PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


BX  7315    .W45  1977 
Whitsitt,   William  Heth,  1841 
-1911  . 

Origin  of  the  Disciples  of 
Christ   ( Camobellites ) 


ORIGIN 

OF  THE 

DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST 

(CAMPBELLITES) 


A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  CENTENNIAL 
ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE  BIRTH  OF 
ALEXANDER  CAMPBELL 

BY 

WILLIAM  H.WHITSITT,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

PROFESSOR  IN  THE  SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


SECOND  EDITION. 


NEW  YORK 
A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  AND  SON 

1888 


Copyright,  1888, 
WILLIAM  H.  WHITSITT. 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York. 


PREFACE  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  purpose  to  deliver  an  attack  against  the  Dis- 
ciples of  Christ  is  expressly  disclaimed ;  the  author's 
only  aim  has  been  to  supply  a  truthful  version  of  an 
important  chapter  in  American  Church  History. 
Numbers  of  myths  have  become  collected  about  the 
name  of  Mr.  Campbell,  and  about  the  origin  of  the 
people  with  whom  he  was  connected.  Certainly  it 
can  be  nothing  amiss  to  challenge  these  myths,  to 
let  in  upon  them  the  light  of  sober  criticism,  and  to 
exhibit  the  facts  as  they  really  exist. 

In  sending  forth  a  second  edition,  the  author  wishes 
to  acknowledge  with  gratitude  the  kind  favor  with 
which  the  first  edition  was  received,  both  by  the  press 
and  by  the  public.  A  number  of  attacks,  it  is  con- 
ceded, have  been  made  by  the  press  of  the  Disciples, 
but  these  have  been  in  no  respect  formidable.  They 
have  been  marked  either  by  helpless  misrepresentation, 
or  by  still  more  helpless  denunciation.  They  require 
no  attention,  because  the  persons  who  engaged  in 
them  have  displayed  no  adequate  acquaintance  with 
the  subject. 

May  the  favor  of  the  Lord  attend  this  honest  effort 
to  serve  the  cause  of  historic  truth. 

306  E.  Chestnut  Steeet, 

Louisville,  May  10,  1888. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/originofdiscipleOOwhit_0 


TABLE  OP  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.   The  Sandemanians   1 

II.    "The  Ancient  Order  of  Things"   6 

III.  "The  Ancient  Gospel"   16 

IV.  "The  Ancient  Gospel"  Improved   23 

V.    The  Haldaneans   33 

TI.    Mr.  Campbell's  Perversion  to  Sandeman- 

ianism  (First  Stage)   51 

VII.   Mr.   Campbell's    Earliest   Success   as  a 

Propagandist   62 

VIII.   Mr.  Campbell's  Perversion  to  Sandeman- 

ianism  (Second  Stage)   76 

IX.   Baptism  for  the  Remission  of  Sins    ....  91 

X.    Other  Items   102 

iii 


ORIGIN  OP  THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SANDEMANIANS. 

The  Disciples  of  Christ  —  commonly  called 
Campbellites,  from  the  name  of  their  founder,  Mr. 
Alexander  Campbell  of  Bethany,  West  Virginia  — 
are  an  offshoot  of  the  Sandemanian  sect  of  Scotland. 
This  latter  sect  was  established  in  the  early  portion 
of  the  eighteenth  century  by  Mr.  John  Glas,  a  minis- 
ter of  the  Established  Church  of  Scotland.  Mr.  Glas 
was  placed  over  the  parish  of  Tearing,  near  Dundee, 
Forfarshire,  in  the  year  1719.  (Narrative  of  the  Rise 
and  Progress  of  the  Controversy  about  the  National 
Covenants.  By  Mr.  John  Glas,  late  Minister  of  the 
Gospel  at  Tealing.  Second  edition,  Dundee,  1828, 
p.  159.)  The  region  of  country  in  which  his  resi- 
dence was  situated  seems  to  have  been  considerably 
infested  by  Dissenters  of  the  type  called  Cameronians, 
who  made  a  loud  noise  against  the  Kirk  of  Scotland 
because  she  had  now  departed,  in  some  respects,  from 
the  letter  of  the  National  Covenants,  asserting  that 

l 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


by  this  means  she  had  lost  the  rigrht  to  be  styled  a 
Church  of  Christ. 

In  order  to  meet  the  objections  of  these  adversaries, 
Mr.  Glas  resolved  to  investigate  the  whole  question 
of  national  covenanting  in  the  light  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  issue  of  these  researches  was  different  from  any 
tiling  he  had  anticipated.  By  means  of  them  he  not 
only  withdrew  the  foundation  of  strict  biblical  pre- 
cept from  beneath  the  feet  of  the  Cameronians,  but 
the  supports  upon  which  his  own  Church  was  estab- 
lished were,  in  his  judgment,  likewise  destroyed. 
These  covenants,  whether  in  their  ancient  or  their 
modern  observance,  proceeded  all  alike  upon  the  sap- 
position  that  a  connection  between  Church  and  State 
is  in  accordance  with  the  teachings  of  the  Sacred 
Word.  (Glas's  Narrative,  pp.  1-25,  also  p.  139.) 
On  his  attaining  to  the  conviction  that  a  union  of  this 
nature  was  not  provided  for  in  the  New  Testament, 
Mr.  Glas  became  displeased  with  his  own  position  in 
the  Established  Church,  as  well  as  with  the  represen- 
tations of  the  Cameronians.  He  was  more  than  ever 
confirmed  in  the  resolution  44  to  take  to  himself  no 
other  rule  but  the  word  of  God/' 

His  reflections  upon  that  Word  now  speedily  made 
him  aware  that  the  rite  of  communion,  as  it  was 
observed  in  his  own  and  other  parishes,  was  not 
strictly  in  accordance  with  the  pattern  of  the  apos- 
tolical churches.  Many  persons  of  the  weakest  pre- 
tensions to  pious  living,  and  many  more  who  made 
no  claims  to  any  special  renewal  by  the  Spirit  of 


THE  SAXDEM ASIANS. 


3 


holiness,  were  entitled,  in  virtue  of  their  birthright, 
to  the  benefits  of  a  position  at  the  table  of  the  Lord. 
This  posture  of  circumstances  had  become  unendur- 
able to  him. 

Accordingly,  on  the  13th  of  July  1725,  he  sought 
to  relieve  his  conscience  by  organizing  a  conventicle 
within  the  boundaries  of  his  parish,  composed  of  those 
only  who  he  believed  had  experienced  a  complete 
change  of  heart.  (Memoranda  of  John  Glas  and 
Robert  Sandeman,  collected  from  MS.  notes  of  the 
late  James  Scott,  member  of  the  church  in  Dundee ; 
in  Letters  and  Discourses  of  Robert  Sandeman,  Dun- 
dee, 1851,  p.  118.  Compare  also  Glas's  Narrative, 
pp.  103  and  113.) 

When  the  literalistic  tendency  of  Mr.  Glas  had 
resulted  in  this  ecclesiola  in  ecclesia,  it  became  the 
means  of  directing  public  attention  to  his  proceed- 
ings. A  communion  occasion  at  Strathmartine,  on 
the  6th  of  August,  1726,  served  to  bring  him  face 
to  face  with  the  opposition  that  was  gathering  head 
against  him.  Echoes  of  the  rising  strife  were  also 
heard  in  the  Presbytery  of  Dundee,  at  its  session  on 
the  7th  of  September  following.  The  affair  likewise 
came  to  discussion,  after  an  informal  fashion,  in  the 
Synod  of  Angus  and  Mearns  when  it  convened  in 
October  1726. 

Nothing  of  consequence  was  done  in  the  premises 
until  the  17th  of  October  1727.  at  which  date  the 
Synod  of  Angus  and  Mearns  laid  upon  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Dundee,  to  which  the  parish  of  Tealing 


4 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


belonged,  the  duty  of  bringing  Mr.  Glas  to  trial  at  a 
special  session  which  they  should  convene  for  that 
purpose  ;  and  ordered  that  these  in  turn  should  bring 
the  results  of  their  investigations  before  the  Synod, 
at  its  next  session  at  Brechin  in  April  1728.  This 
mandate  was  observed ;  and  after  due  deliberation  was 
had,  the  Synod  of  Angus  and  Mearns,  on  the  18th 
of  April  1728,  pronounced  a  sentence  of  suspension 
from  the  ministry  against  Mr.  Glas,  for  promulgating 
sentiments  hostile  to  the  National  Covenants  and  to 
the  union  of  Church  and  State  in  any  form.  An 
appeal  was  taken  to  the  General  Assembly,  which 
convened  about  a  fortnight  later,  on  the  2d  of  May, 
which,  however,  confirmed  the  action  of  the  Synod. 
Meanwhile,  Mr.  Glas  having  laid  himself  liable  to 
the  charge  of  contumacy  by  continuing  to  preach  the 
obnoxious  doctrine  after  his  suspension  from  office, 
a  sentence  of  deposition  was  passed  against  him  by 
the  Synod  in  October  1728.  An  appeal  being* taken 
against  this  new  sentence,  it  was  likewise  confirmed 
by  decision  of  the  Commission  of  the  Assembly,  at  a 
meeting  appointed  to  consider  the  case,  on  the  12th 
of  March  1730.  (The  above  facts  are  taken  from 
Glas's  Narrative,  as  cited  on  a  preceding  page.) 

The  brief  outlines  which  have  just  been  given  will 
avail,  in  some  sort,  to  bring  before  the  reader  a  view 
of  the  special  occasion  that  induced  Mr.  Glas  to  rebel 
against  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  and  of  the  main  inci- 
dents of  the  process  that  was  thereupon  entered 
against  him.     His  own  reflections  concerning  the 


THE  SANBEMANIANS. 


5 


teachings  of  the  Scriptures  had  brought  him  to  em- 
brace the  position  of  the  English  Independents  in 
relation  to  the  question  concerning  the  proper  church 
order,  while  the  action  of  the  constituted  authorities 
had  already  destroyed  his  sympathy  for  the  National 
Establishment. 

Though  his  followers  and  himself  were  in  the  cus- 
tom of  designating  themselves,  and  the  churches  they 
subsequently  organized,  by  the  name  of  "  Independ- 
ents "  (Glas,  Narrative,  p.  110 ;  also  Memoir  of  Mr. 
John  Glas,  prefixed  to  the  Narrative,  p.  xvii),  or 
sometimes  Congregationalists  (Memoir  of  Mr.  John 
Glas,  prefixed  to  Narrative,  p.  xxvi),  yet  they  made 
no  effort  to  form  relations  with  the  people  who  in 
England  bear  those  names.  On  the  contrary,  they 
stood  wholly  aloof;  and,  guided  by  the  Scriptures, 
they  resolved  to  work  out  from  this  source,  alone 
and  without  any  assistance,  the  more  minute  details 
of  the  constitution,  life,  worship,  and  discipline  of 
the  churches  of  the  New-Testament  period.  The 
passion  they  had  acquired  for  contradicting  the  usages 
and  the  doctrines  of  the  " popular  clergy"  was  so 
keen  that  they  were  soon  driven  into  excesses ;  and 
before  they  progressed  very  far  there  had  arisen  so 
large  a  variety  of  convictions  and  usages,  that  many 
of  the  individual  bodies  differed  from  each  other  in 
regard  to  a  number  of  particulars,  while  each  single 
item,  though  never  so  insignificant  in  appearance, 
was  liable  to  become  an  occasion  of  separation. 


6 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  II. 

"THE  ANCIENT  ORDER  OF  THINGS." 

The  tithing  of  mint  anise  and  cummin,  it  has 
been  suggested,  became  the  principal  concern  of  Mr. 
Glas  and  his  followers.  The  work  was  begun  only  a 
few  months  after  the  sentence  of  deposition  from  the 
Kirk  of  Scotland  had  been  confirmed.  Mr.  Glas  had 
an  uncommon  amount  of  confidence  in  the  capacity 
of  the  poorest  of  the  brethren  to  divine  the  truth  of 
God  from  the  biblical  word,  and  often  boasted  that 
he  got  hints  from  them  which  served  to  open  and  ex- 
plain many  things  which  he  had  not  previously  under- 
stood. During  the  summer  of  1730,  while  he  was 
absent  in  the  Highlands  for  the  benefit  of  his  health, 
these  humble  people  raised  a  scruple  in  the  church 
over  which  he  now  presided  in  Dundee,  regarding  the 
ruling  elders,  which,  as  former  Presbyterians,  they 
had  adopted  from  the  constitution  of  the  Established 
Church.  The  pastor  was  speedily  fetched  from  his 
summer  retreat  for  the  purpose  of  adjusting  the  diffi- 
culty. This  enterprise  was  accomplished  by  abolish- 
ing the  office  of  ruling  elders,  and  substituting  in 
their  stead  a  plurality  of  elders,  whose  duty  it  should 
be  both  to  preach  and  to  teach.    (Memoranda  of  John 


"  THE  ANCIENT  ORDER  OF  THINGS."  7 


Glas  and  Robert  Sandeman,  as  found  in  the  Letters 
and  Discourses  of  Robert  Sandeman,  pp.  118,  119.) 
The  fashion  of  employing  a  plurality  of  elders  is 
likewise  found  among  the  Disciples  of  America. 

To  an  aged  member  of  the  church,  also  presumably 
one  of  the  poorest  of  the  people,  is  due  the  innovation 
of  weekly  communion  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
conventicle  which  Mr.  Glas  had  gathered  around  him 
was  at  first  in  the  habit  of  monthly  celebrating  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  person  referred  to  suggested 
the  inquiry  why  they  should  meet  every  month  for 
that  purpose,  and  not  once  or  twice  in  the  year,  as 
the  churches  of  the  Establishment  were  in  the  custom 
of  doing.  A  debate  was  held  regarding  the  business, 
by  means  of  which  it  was  concluded  that  both  of 
these  practices  were  without  example  in  the  New 
Testament;  and  thereupon  the  weekly  service  was 
enjoined.  (Memoranda  of  John  Glas  and  Robert 
Sandeman,  in  the  place  above  cited,  p.  119.)  The 
Disciples  also  observe  this  usage. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  movement  it  was  expected 
that  the  elders,  of  whom  there  were  indispensably  two 
or  three  in  every  church,  should  sustain  themselves, 
by  their  own  exertions,  in  some  trade  or  profession 
outside  of  the  ministry.  This  peculiarity  has  been 
retained,  with  considerable  tenacity,  in  some  of  the 
Sandemanian  churches.  (An  Account  of  the  Chris- 
tian Practices  of  the  Church  in  Barnsbury  Grove, 
Barnsbury,  London,  1878,  p.  10.)  The  early  Dis- 
ciples, in  their  turn,  laid  much  stress  upon  this  point 


8 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


(Christian  Baptist,  edit.  6,  p.  91,  pp.  28,  29,  43,  37, 
46) ;  but  of  late  they  are  becoming  less  strenuous 
regarding  it. 

Seeing  that  he  was  now  fairly  launched  upon  a 
career  of  literalism,  Mr.  Glas  would  soon  perceive 
that  it  was  impossible  to  find  in  the  New-Testament 
writings  any  documents  like  the  Longer  and  Shorter 
Catechisms  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  Accordingly,  in 
the  year  1736,  he  published  a  pamphlet  under  the 
title  of  "  The  Usefulness  of  Catechisms  Considered," 
and  takes  the  occasion  to  discourage  the  employment 
of  them  by  his  followers.  The  Confession  of  Faith, 
in  its  turn,  was  abolished.  Besides  the  fact  that  there 
was  directly  no  Divine  command  enjoining  its  exist- 
ence, the  Westminster  Confession  had  been,  in  some 
sort,  the  occasion  of  his  displacement  from  the  parish 
at  Tealing. 

The  attention  of  the  party  was  soon  directed  to 
the  love-feast  which  prevailed  in  the  early  Christian 
Church ;  and,  with  the  courage  of  their  convictions, 
this  observance  was  also  added  as  an  indispensable 
mark  of  a  genuine  Church  of  Christ.  Their  success- 
ors in  England  are  quite  as  stringent  as  were  the 
Sandemanians  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  requiring 
the  presence  of  each  and  every  member  on  these  occa- 
sions. (Barnsbury  Grove,  as  above,  p.  10.)  Mr. 
Campbell,  the  founder  of  the  Disciples,  seriously  con- 
sidered this  matter ;  but,  while  he  allowed  that  the 
custom  was  of  biblical  authority,  and  might  be  "  found 
useful  when  the  ancient  order  of  things  is  restored  " 


"  THE  ANCIENT  ORDER  OF  THINGS.1*  9 


(Christian  Baptist,  edit.  6,  pp.  283,  284),  he  yet  lacked 
a  sufficient  amount  of  courage  to  enjoin  the  observ- 
ance of  it.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  fully  as  clear 
as  the  Sandemanians  in  his  denunciations  of  church 
catechisms,  creeds  and  confessions  of  faith. 

The  Sandemanians  were  easily  able  to  discover  that 
the  kiss  of  charity  was  several  times  enjoined  in  the 
apostolical  letters,  and  hence  this  observance  was  fre- 
quently found  among  them.  Mr.  Campbell's  courage 
and  devotion  to  the  distinct  commands  of  the  word 
of  God  failed  him  entirely  at  this  point.  (Christian 
Baptist,  edit.  6,  224.  Compare  also  Richardson,  vol. 
ii.  p.  129,  where  Mr.  Campbell  had  an  opportunity  to 
resist  this  observance  in  a  small  church  at  Pittsburg, 
which  professed  Sandemanian  views.) 

The  conditions  were  almost  the  same  in  the  case 
of  feet-washing.  This  practice  was  also  regarded  by 
numbers  of  the  Sandemanians  as  an  important  mark 
of  a  true  Church  of  Christ.  It  is  still  observed  by 
them  (Barnsbury  Grove,  p.  8),  but  they  do  not  now 
appear  to  consider  it  of  the  same  binding  necessity 
as  formerly.  Mr.  Campbell  rejected  it  entirely 
(Christian  Baptist,  pp.  222,  223),  as  a  church  observ- 
ance, though  he  was  not  averse  that  it  should  be  * 
performed  as  an  expression  of  private  hospitality. 

The  Sandemanians  early  became  convinced  that  it 
was  an  article  of  capital  concern,  that  their  adherents 
should  abstain  from  eating  blood.  In  this  connec- 
tion they  insisted  upon  the  letter  of  the  passage  at 
Acts  xv.  20,  28,  29.   No  distinct  allusion,  on  the  part 


10 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


of  the  Disciples,  to  the  binding  force  of  this  apostoli- 
cal prohibition,  can  be  remembered. 

The  Sandemanians  laid  unusual  stress  upon  the 
intercessory  prayer  of  our  Lord,  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  the  Gospel  according  to  John  ;  holding  that 
it  inculcates  the  necessity  of  absolute  unanimity,  on 
the  part  of  the  various  members,  in  every  transaction 
by  an  individual  church.  In  order  to  obtain  this  in- 
dispensable unanimity,  the  parties  who  may  entertain 
such  objections  as  they  are  unable  to  surrender  are 
incontinently  expelled  from  the  communion.  (Barns- 
bury  Grove,  p.  14.)  The  Disciples  likewise  insist 
with  earnestness  upon  the  passage  in  question ;  but 
they  understand  that  it  refers  to  the  organic  union  of 
all  who  profess  and  call  themselves  Christians,  on  the 
basis  of  the  plea  which  themselves  have  a  charge  to 
urge  upon  the  attention  of  the  religious  public. 

A  modified  type  of  communism  prevailed,  and  is 
still  professed,  among  the  Sandemanians.  (Richard- 
son, vol.  i.  p.  71.)  The  personal  estate  of  a  com- 
municant could  be  retained  by  him  after  entering  the 
fraternity,  but  always  with  the  understanding  that  it 
was  subject  to  the  demands  of  the  necessitous,  espe- 
cially those  of  them  who  chanced  to  be  of  the  house- 
hold of  faith.  Accordingly  it  was  expected  that  their 
brethren  should  not  lay  up  any  further  treasures  on 
earth  than  such  as  they  were  possessed  of  at  the  time 
of  their  reception.  (Andrew  Fuller,  Strictures  on 
Sandemanianism,  Letter  IX.)  In  order  to  prevent 
this  from  taking  place,  the  surplus  above  their  actual 


"  THE  ANCIENT  ORDER  OF  THINGS."  11 

necessities  in  the  way  of  subsistence  was  to  be  con- 
tributed to  the  "  Fellowship,"  which  is  the  name  they 
derived  from  Acts  ii.  42,  for  the  collection  for  the 
poor.  (Barnsbury  Grove,  pp.  6,  7,  also  pp.  8,  9 ;  cf. 
Letters  and  Discourses  of  R.  Sandeman,  p.  42.)  The 
Disciples,  on  the  contrary,  have  never  pressed  the 
principle  of  communism  to  the  same  extent ;  but  they 
have  adopted  the  nomenclature  of  the  Sandemanians 
in  the  matter  of  the  weekly  collection  (Christian  ^ 
Baptist,  edit.  6,  pp.  209,  166,  359)  which  is  ordinarily 
designated  as  "  the  Fellowship  "  in  their  literature. 
(See  also  Christian  Baptist,  pp.  389,  391,  408,  413, 
for  other  instances  of  the  employment  of  this  term 
in  the  writings  of  Sandemanian  churches.) 

The  custom  of  mutual  exhortation,  as  a  regular 
part  of  religious  worship,  was  in  vogue  among  many 
of  the  Sandemanian  fraternities.  They  justified  this 
proceeding  by  a  literal  interpretation  of  1  Cor.  xiv. 
31.  It  was  often  assigned  a  place  in  the  observances 
of  the  Sabbath  day ;  but  the  church  of  Barnsbury 
Grove,  London,  has  now  removed  it  to  the  Wednes- 
day-evening meeting.    (Barnsbury  Grove,  p.  7.) 

The  business  of  exhortation  was  likewise  attendee 
to  in  the  first  church  that  was  organized  by  the  Dis- 
ciples in  America,  as  also  in  the  kindred  Sandeman- 
ian church  under  the  charge  of  Walter  Scott  in 
Pittsburgh,  Penn. ;  but  so  many  evils  grew  out  of 
it,  that  after  a  series  of  years  Mr.  Campbell  became  v 
impatient  of  it,  and  succeeded  in  persuading  his  fol- 
lowers to  surrender  their  liberty  in  this  regard. 


12 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


(Richardson,  Memoirs  of  A.  Campbell,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
125-129.) 

A  portion  of  the  Sandemanian  fraternity  were  so 
strict  in  their  literalism,  that,  because  there  is  no  di- 
rect injunction  commanding  the  observance  of  family 
prayer,  and  because  there  is  a  Divine  command  to 
enter  into  the  closet  and  pray  in  secret,  they  would 
inveigh  against  this  practice  as  savoring  of  a  tendency 
to  proselytism.  (Christian  Baptist,  edit.  2,  Buffalo, 
Va.,  1827,  p.  76.)  Others  of  the  party  discouraged 
the  habit  of  family  prayer,  on  the  ground  that  it 
is  "  unlawful,  provided  any  part  of  the  family  be 
unbelievers,  seeing  it  is  holding  communion  with 
them."  {Braidwood's  Letters,  as  cited  by  Andrew 
Fuller  in  his  Strictures  on  Sandemanianism,  Letter 
IX.) 

In  his  earlier  years  Mr.  Campbell  was  influenced 
by  this  latter  view  of  the  subject,  and  at  one  time 
seriously  proposed  to  his  father  the  inquiry  "  whether 
family  prayer  is  proper  in  a  family  composed  in  part 
of  unbelievers."  (Richardson,  vol.  i.  p.  449.)  Un- 
like the  Sandemanians,  however,  who  could  find  "  no 
precept  or  precedent  for  family  worship  "  in  the  bibli- 
cal writings  (Fuller,  Strictures  on  Sandemanianism, 
Letter  IX.),  Mr.  Campbell  was  fortunate  enough  to 
discover  a  justification  of  the  practice  in  the  patri- 
archal dispensation,  which  he  denominated  "the 
family  worship  institution  "  (Christian  System,  Beth- 
any, Va.,  1840,  pp.  128-133)  ;  and,  notwithstanding 
the  youthful  scruples  referred  to  above,  he  appears 


"  THE  ANCIENT  ORDER  OF  THINGS."  13 


to  have  performed  the  duty  with  a  commendable 
degree  of  diligence  and  spirit. 

The  same  people  who  could  not  reconcile  it  to  their 
views  to  pray  or  to  enjoy  any  kind  of  religious  observ- 
ance in  the  family  circle  with  those  who  were  not  in 
communion  with  them  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  yet  had 
no  scruples  against  accompanying  respectable  persons 
of  whatever  creed,  or  of  no  creed  at  all,  to  the  theatre, 
or  against  joining  with  them  in  the  dance  or  other 
social  amusements  which  are  commonly  condemned 
by  the  more  serious  portion  of  the  religious  com- 
munity. (Barnsbury  Grove,  p.  9 ;  compare  Fuller's 
Strictures  on  Sandemanianism,  Letter  II. ;  and  Letter 
of  John  Glas  to  Edward  Gorril,  in  Letters  and  Dis- 
courses of  R.  S.,  p.  88.) 

Mr.  Campbell  was  not  guilty  of  this  kind  of  extrav- 
agance ;  but  the  sentiment  of  the  Sandemanians  in 
the  matter  of  theatres,  dancing,  and  other  diversions, 
appears  to  have  survived  in  the  Mormon  community, 
who,  as  will  be  suggested  later  on,  are  connected,  ' 
through  the  Disciples,  with  the  Sandemanian  stock. 

It  would  be  natural  to  expect  that  those  who  were 
unwilling  to  engage  in  family  prayer  where  unbeliev- 
ing members  might  belong  to  the  household,  should 
also  be  forward  to  propose  objections  to  the  presence 
of  any  but  communicants  at  the  public  services  of  the 
Church.  A  portion  of  the  Sandemanian  Churches 
acceded  to  the  demand  of  their  peculiar  logic  in  this 
particular,  and  were  solicitous  to  exclude  from  their 
public  worship  all  who  might  not  belong  to  their  own 


14 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


community.  (Christian  Baptist,  edit.  6,  p.  389 ;  also 
a  Letter  from  the  Elders  of  the  Church  in  Dundee  to 
the  Elders  of  the  Church  in  Edinburgh,  as  found  in 
the  Letters  and  Discourses  of  Robert  Sandeman, 
Dundee,  1851,  pp.  116,  117.) 

Mr.  Campbell,  in  his  turn,  was  much  taken  with 
this  peculiarity  of  the  Sandemanians.  His  biographer 
is  our  authority  for  the  statement  that  the  first  church 
he  organized  —  at  Brush  Run  in  Pennsylvania  —  did 
not  recognize  as  duly  prepared  to  partake  in  religious 
services  any  persons  except  such  as  had  professed  to 
put  on  Christ  in  baptism  ;  or,  in  other  words,  those 
who  chanced  to  be  members  of  that  special  organi- 
zation. Later  in  life  he  was  persuaded  to  recede 
from  this  extrem  position ;  but  he  appears  to  haye 
always  regrette  his  course  in  that  regard,  longing 
in  vain  for  th  exclusive  attitude  of  his  youthful 
time.    (Richardson,  vol.  i.  p.  454.) 

The  Sandemanians  made  a  deal  of  noise  over  the 
point  that  the  first  day  of  the  week  is  not  properly 
a  Sabbath,  at  least  holding  that  it  is  not  a  duty 
incumbent  upon  Christian  people  to  observe  it  in 
the  same  fashion  as  the  Sabbath  was  observed  by  the 
Jewish  nation  under  the  Old-Testament  economy. 
They  regarded  the  Christian  Sabbath  as  merely 
designed  for  the  celebration  of  divine  ordinances 
(Barnsbury  Grove,  p.  4),  and  did  not  conceive  that 
they  were  engaged  to  sanctify  the  day  according  to 
the  strict  usage  of  the  Scottish  Kirk.  When  the  con- 
cerns of  public  worship  had  been  duly  cared  for,  the 


"  THE  ANCIEXT  ORDER  OF  THINGS."  15 


balance  of  the  day  might  be  passed  in  such  pleasures 
as  would  scarcely  comport  with  the  claim  that  it  was 
anyway  more  holy  than  other  days.  (Andrew  Fuller, 
Strictures  on  Sandemanianism,  Letter  IX.) 

The  Disciples  likewise  decline  to  regard  the  first 
day  of  the  week  as  a  Sabbath,  or  even  to  call  it  by  ' 
that  name.  The  fourth  command  of  the  Decalogue, 
they  hold,  is  applicable  to  the  seventh  day,  but  it  does 
not  refer  to  Sunday.  On  this  account  they  have  now 
and  then  been  charged  with  the  crime  of  paying  no 
respect  to  the  Fourth  Commandment.  Claims  of 
that  nature,  however,  are  commonly  based  upon  a  mis- 
conception. The  public  worship  which  the  Disciples, 
like  the  Sandemanians.  consider  it  their  duty  to  ob- 
serve on  the  Lord's  Day,  occupies  about  as  many  hours 
of  time  and  service  as  customarily  are  passed  in  that 
way  by  those  who  are  willing  to  consider  the  day  as 
a  Sabbath.  The  only  matter  worth}*  of  attention  in 
this  connection  is,  that  the  party  are  in  the  habit  of 
proposing  the  same  distinction  regarding  this  subject 
that  was  urged,  before  their  time,  by  the  Sandeman- 
ians.   (Richardson,  vol.  i.  pp.  432-435.) 


16 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  III. 

';  THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL." 

The:  main  strength  and  care  of  the  Sandernanian 
parn*.  during  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  its  exist- 
ence, were  exerted  in  the  direction  of  the  constitution, 
life  and  worship  of  the  Church.  In  the  development 
of  these  it  may  be  suspected,  without  any  grave  lack 
of  charity,  that  they  were  influenced,  to  some  extent, 
by  a  desire  to  antagonize  the  usages  of  the  Kirk  of 
Scotland.  The  points  brought  forward  in  the  pre- 
ceding section  will  suggest,  in  several  instances,  the 
operation  of  a  spirit  of  contradiction.  For  example, 
the  scruple  against  the  propriety  of  family  prayer  may 
have  had  some  kind  of  reference  to  the  circumstance 
that  this  was,  at  the  moment,  an  almost  universal 
custom  of  the  Scottish  country.  The  tenet  against 
the  sanctification  of  the  Sabbath  was  likewise  very 
offensive  to  the  majority  of  religious  people  in  Scot- 
land. Historical  records  are  believed  to  indicate  that 
the  custom  of  observing  the  Lord's  Supper  every  Sun- 
day had  a  degree  of  reference  to  the  circumstance 
that  the  Kirk  folk  commonly  celebrated  the  sacra- 
ment but  once  or  twice  in  the  year. 

In  brief,  the  Sandemanians  were  almost  always  and 


"  THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL." 


17 


everywhere  in  the  opposition.  This  spirit  of  oppo- 
sition displayed  itself  when,  in  due  course  of  time, 
they  found  it  desirable  to  give  a  portion  of  their  at- 
tention to  the  doctrines  which  their  Church  should 
maintain.  The  influence  of  the  Methodist  movement 
was  by  that  time  beginning  to  be  recognized  in  Scot- 
land. While  the  Calvinistic  theologians  felt  impelled 
to  resist  the  views  of  Mr.  Wesley  at  various  points  in 
the  department  of  soteriology,  it  is  none  the  less  true, 
that,  through  the  influence  of  Whitefield,  these  had 
gained  some  degree  of  currency  in  the  land  of  Knox. 
Methodist  influences  were  very  much  extended  in  the 
party  of  Seceders,  who  went  away  from  the  Estab- 
lished Church  in  1732,  only  a  few  years  after  the 
expulsion  of  Mr.  Glas. 

Mr.  James  Hervey,  a  member  of  Wesley's  "godly 
club  "  at  Oxford,  who  subsequently  adhered  to  the 
predestinarian  views  of  Whitefield,  in  the  year  1755 
had  published  a  work  under  the  title  of  "  Dialogues 
between  Theron  and  Aspasio,"  that  were  received 
with  much  popularity.  The  views  that  were  there  . 
set  forth  regarding  the  nature  of  justifying  faith  and 
the  process  of  salvation  were  pretty  strongly  tinctured 
with  Methodist  sentiment,  but  they  were  not  on  that 
account  any  the  less  welcome  to  wide  circles  of  his 
readers  in  Scotland. 

Two  years  later  a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Glas's  —  Mr.  </ 
Robert  Sandeman,  who  likewise  had  a  sort  of  mission 
to  contend  against  the  "popular  preachers"  and 
"  popular  doctrines  "  —  came  forward  with  a  review 


18 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


of  the  performance  of  Mr.  Hervey,  entitled  "  Letters 
on  Theron  and  Aspasio."  In  this  production  he 
strictly  combats  the  notion  advanced  by  Hervey, 
that  saving  faith  embraces  in  its  contents  any  "  real 
persuasion  that  the  blessed  Jesus  has  shed  his  blood 
for  me,  or  has  fulfilled  all  righteousness  in  my  stead  ;  " 
and  also  the  position  that  any  "  appropriation  of  Christ 
is  essential  to  faith."  (Sandeman,  Letters  on  Theron 
and  Aspasio,  New  York,  1838,  p.  4.)  What  he  sev- 
eral times  christens  as  "the  ancient  gospel"  (p.  117, 
p.  297,  p.  412 ;  Epistolary  Correspondence,  p.  25,  p. 
83),  recognizes  as  "  involved  in  the  contents  of  justi- 
fying faith  nothing  else  than  simply  believing  the 
record,  or  crediting  the  testimony  of  God."  (Letters, 
as  above,  p.  21.)  In  order  to  believe  the  record,  Mr. 
Sandeman  wholly  discredits  the  notion  that  there  is 
a  necessity  for  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  (pp.  29,  30). 
He  suggests  that  the  Spirit  "who  breathes  in  the 
Scriptures  never  speaks  a  word  to  any  man  beside 
what  he  publicly  speaks  there ; "  and  he  "  will  not 
bear  to  hear  the  living  and  powerful  Word  of  God, 
on  any  pretence  or  under  color  of  any  distinction 
whatsoever,  called  a  dead  letter." 

In  the  "  Letters  on  Theron  and  Aspasio,"  though 
his  tone  is  extremely  bitter  and  arrogant,  he  is  never- 
theless more  moderate  than  he  exhibits  himself  in 
some  of  his  subsequent  productions.  The  "Episto- 
lary Correspondence  between  S.  P(ike)  and  R.  San- 
deman) "  transcends  all  the  previous  limits  which  he 
had  assigned  to  his  passion.    There  he  claims  that 


"  THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL." 


19 


faith  is  "  the  bare  belief  of  the  bare  truth,"  and  that  it 
does  not  even  imply  so  much  as  a  hearty  persuasion. 
In  this  bare  belief  he  was  also  at  pains  to  specify  that 
the  mind  of  the  subject  is  not  active,  but  passive  ;  for, 
if  the  mind  were  active  in  the  matter  of  crediting  the 
testimony  of  Christ,  this  would  be  the  same  as  to 
allow  that  we  are  justified  by  an  act  of  the  human 
mind. 

Mr.  Sandeman,  who  invented  the  phrase  "  ancient 
gospel,"  is  likewise  believed  to  be  the  inventor  of 
the  very  common  Disciple  phrase,  "  the  good  confes- 
sion," which  several  times  occurs  in  the  "  Letters  on 
Theron  and  Aspasio  "  (p.  487).  In  another  part  of 
the  same  work  he  gives  himself  the  pains  to  explain 
what  are  the  contents  of  this  confession :  "  There  is 
but  one  genuine  truth  that  can  save  men.  To  illus- 
trate this  matter,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the 
saving  truth  which  the  apostles  believed  was,  TJiat 
Jesus  is  the  Christ.  The  apostles  had  one  uniform 
fixed  sense  to  these  words ;  and  the  whole  New 
Testament  is  writ  to  ascertain  to  us  in  what  sense 
they  understood  them."    (Letters  etc.,  p.  258.) 

Nearly  all  of  these  peculiarities  come  to  sight  in 
the  theology  of  the  Disciples.  Their  gospel  is  com- 
monly denominated  "the  ancient  gospel."  In  the 
"Christian  Baptist,"  of  which  he  was  the  editor,  may 
be  found  a  series  of  ten  different  essays  from  the 
hand  of  Mr.  Campbell,  under  that  title.  The  "  popu- 
lar doctrine"  and  the  "popular  preachers"  are  as 
liberally  denounced,  and  commonly  with  the  same 


20  THE  DISCIPLES  OE  CHRIST. 


cant  expressions,  in  the  pages  of  that  periodical,  as 
in  any  of  the  writings  of  the  Sandemanians. 

Mr.  Campbell  is  also  as  clear  as  his  teacher  was, 
that  the  root  and  substance  of  religion  is  found 
in  knowledge,  exclusive  of  approbation :  M  evidence 
alone  produces  faith,  or  testimony  is  all  that  is  ne- 
cessary to  faith."  (Christian  Baptist,  edit.  6,  p.  58.) 
In  his  u  Dialogue  between  Timothy  and  Austin,"  he 
is  believed  to  come  near  to  the  position  of  Sandeman, 
that  the  Spirit  never  speaks  a  word  to  any  man 
besides  what  he  publicly  speaks  in  the  Scriptures. 
"Walter  Scott,  one  of  his  leading  assistants,  was  also 
a  diligent  disciple  of  Sandeman's.  In  that  character 
he  affirms  that  44  the  body  of  Christ  is  increased  by 
the  belief  of  the  bare  truth  that  Jesus  is  the  Son 
of  God  and  our  Saviour."  (Christian  Baptist,  edit.  6, 
p.  21.) 

The  distinction  which  Mr.  Sandeman  acquired  by 
means  of  his  labors  in  the  department  of  Christian 
doctrine  was  so  great,  that  in  a  brief  season  he  began 
to  outshine  Mr.  Glas,  who  was  the  founder  of  the 
sect.  In  England  and  other  countries  where  his 
writings  were  circulated,  they  produced  a  somewhat 
violent  controversy,  in  which  the  name  of  Glas  was 
but  seldom  heard.  By  degrees,  therefore,  it  befell 
that  the  adherents  of  the  fraternity  came  to  be 
known  as  Sandemanians  almost  everywhere  outside 
of  the  limits  of  Scotland;  and  even  there  the  cus- 
tomary designation  has  come  to  be  Glasites  or  San- 
demanians, a  circumstance  which  shows  that  the 


"  THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL:' 


21 


impression  produced  by  Sandeman  was  profound 
and  enduring. 

It  is  not  important  to  the  purpose  in  hand,  to  lay 
before  the  reader  any  detailed  account  of  the  literary 
opponents  who  entered  the  lists  against  the  princi- 
ples that  were  advanced  by  Mr.  Sandeman.  The 
names  of  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  will  be  suffi- 
cient to  show  that  he  was  not  neglected.  Mr.  John 
"Wesley  was  among  the  first  to  come  forward  with 
a  brief  essay,  which  he  published  anonymously  as 
44  A  Sufficient  Answer  to  the  Author  of  the  Letters 
on  Theron  and  Aspasio."  Mr.  W.  Cudworth,  a 
Dissenting  minister  of  prominence  in  London,  first 
entered  into  a  private  correspondence  with  Sande- 
man (Letters  and  Discourses  of  R.  Sandeman,  p.  37), 
and  afterwards  published  a  couple  of  volumes  against 
him.  The  earliest  of  these,  printed  in  the  year  1760, 
at  London,  was  entitled  44  A  Defence  of  Theron  and 
Aspasio  against  the  Objections  contained  in  a  Late 
Treatise,  entitled  Letters  on  Theron  and  Aspasio." 
The  next  year  appeared  "  The  Polyglot,  or  Hope  of 
Eternal  Life  according  to  the  Various  Sentiments 
of  the  Present  Day." 

In  America,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Bellamy,  D.D.,  took 
part  in  the  conflict  with  a  work  entitled,  "  Theron, 
Paulinus,  and  Aspasio ;  or,  Letters  and  Dialogues  on 
the  Nature  of  Love  to  God,  Faith  in  Christ,  and 
Assurance  of  a  Title  to  Eternal  Life,"  1758,  1759 ; 
as  also  in  the  year  1762,  with  44  An  Essay  on  the 
Nature  and  Glory  of  the  Gospel;  designed  as  a 
Supplement  to  the  Letters  and  Dialogues." 


22 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  C II  It  I  ST. 


Mr.  Isaac  Backus  likewise  gave  attention  to  the 
issues  involved,  in  a  volume  published  at  Boston  in 
1767,  under  the  title,  "  True  Faith  will  produce  Good 
Works.  A  Discourse  wherein  are  opened  the  Nature 
of  Faith,  and  its  Powerful  Influence  on  the  Heart  and 
Life :  together  with  the  Contrary  Nature  and  Effects 
of  Unbelief :  and  Answers  to  Various  Objection^.  To 
which  are  prefixed,  A  Brief  View  of  the  Present  State 
of  the  Protestant  World,  with  some  Remarks  on  the 
Writings  of  Mr.  Sandeman." 

Some  years  afterwards,  Mr.  Andrew  Fuller  of 
England  was  drawn  into  the  controversy  by  means 
of  an  attack  upon  his  position,  in  the  second  edition 
of  a  work  by  Mr.  Archibald  M'Lean  of  Edinburgh, 
entitled  "The  Commission  of  Christ."  In  this  trea- 
tise, Mr.  M'Lean  having  set  forth  some  objections  to 
the  views  of  Fuller,  the  latter  replied  in  an  appendix 
to  his  book  called  "The  Gospel  Worthy  of  All  Accep- 
tation." The  answer  of  Mr.  M'Lean  appeared  under 
the  title  of  "  A  Reply  to  Mr.  Fuller's  Appendix  to 
his  Book  on  the  Gospel  Worthy  of  All  Acceptation." 
This  performance  on  the  part  of  M'Lean  subsequently 
called  forth  Fuller's  "  Strictures  on  Sandemanianism," 
which  is,  perhaps,  the  most  satisfactory  treatment  of 
the  whole  subject  that  has  yet  been  published  on 
either  side  of  the  question. 


"THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL"  IMPROVED.  23 


CHAPTER  IV. 

"THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL "  IMPROVED. 

The  churches  that  were  under  the  direction  of 
Sandeman  and  Glas  were  making  slight  progress  in 
different  portions  of  Scotland,  when  in  the  year  1761 
the  faithful  were  considerably  elated  by  the  accession 
of  the  Rev.  Robert  Cannichael,  a  Seceder  minister  of 
the  Anti-Burgher  type,  who  presided  over  a  church 
of  that  faith  at  Cupar  in  Angus.  (Letters  and  Dis- 
courses of  Robert  Sandeman,  p.  44,  p.  93;  cf.  also 
Memoir  of  Archibald  M'Lean,  by  William  Jones,  p. 
xxiii.  This  memoir  is  printed  in  front  of  the  first 
volume  of  McLean's  collected  works,  published  at 
Elgin,  Scotland,  1847.) 

Cannichael  was  forthwith  assigned  to  duty  in 
the  ranks  of  the  sect  to  which  he  had  attached  his 
fortunes,  and  placed  in  charge  of  a  church  in 
Glasgow.  Here  it  appears  that  he  enjoyed  a  degree 
of  success ;  at  any  rate,  he  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  means  of  perverting  from  his  loyalty  to  the  Scot- 
tish Kirk,  Mr.  Archibald  M'Lean,  who  entered  the 
fraternity  of  the  Sandemanian  Independents  in 
the  year  1762.  (Memoir  of  M'Lean,  pp.  xxii  and 
xxiii.) 


24  THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


The  satisfaction  of  the  Sandemanians  with  their 
Anti-Burgher  convert  was  of  brief  duration.  The 
hand  of  Mr.  Glas  was  found  to  be  very  heavy. 
Upon  the  occasion  of  a  case  of  discipline  in  which 
Glas  interfered  (Letters  and  Discourses,  p.  83), 
Carmichael  became  disgusted  with  his  situation,  and 
laid  down  the  charge  of  the  Independent  Church 
in  Glasgow.  (Letters  and  Discourses,  p.  44,  note.) 
Archibald  M'Lean,  apparently  a  protege  of  Carmi- 
chael's,  also  retired  from  the  sect  on  the  same  occa- 
sion.   (Memoir,  p.  xxiii.) 

After  this  pair  of  friends  had  fallen  into  a  condi- 
tion of  separation  from  the  Sandemanians,  it  was  not 
singular  that  they  should  have  qualms  of  conscience 
touching  some  of  the  tenets  that  were  maintained 
by  that  fraternity.  In  this  instance  criticism  was 
v  levelled  against  the  doctrine  of  infant-baptism,  which 
Mr.  Glas  had  retained  as  a  prominent  item  of  the 
"  ancient  order  of  things."  (Memoir,  p.  xxiii.)  As 
a  natural  consequence,  both  of  them  in  due  season 
renounced  the  practice  of  infant-baptism. 

Carmichael  speedily  removed  from  Glasgow  to 
Edinburgh,  where  he  seems  to  have  had  charge  of 
an  Independent  Church  that  had  likely  seceded  from 
the  community  over  which  Mr.  Robert  Sandeman 
was  then  presiding  in  that  city;  it  is  believed  to 
have  been  composed  of  people  who  took  the  part  of 
Carmichael  in  the  controversy  that  he  had  waged 
with  Glas  and  Sandeman  in  Glasgow.  They  were 
only  seven  in  number,  but  they  invited  Carmichael 


11  THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL"  IMPROVED.  25 


from  Glasgow  to  be  their  pastor.  (Memoirs  of 
M'Lean,  p.  xxiii.) 

As  he  was  on  the  point  of  setting  out  for  Edin- 
burgh, Mr.  M'Lean  promised  his  old  pastor  that  he 
would  compose  a  letter,  in  which  should  be  laid 
down  in  full  his  views  on  the  subject  of  baptism. 
When  this  document  was  completed,  it  was  dated 
on  the  2d  of  July,  1764.  Mr.  Carmichael  obtained 
it  by  due  course  of  mail ;  but  as  he  was  now  comfort- 
ably established  in  Edinburgh,  over  a  church  that 
was  still  in  doctrinal  agreement  with  Mr.  Sandeman, 
he  was  uncertain  what  might  be  the  result  in  case 
he  should  suddenly  profess  his  conversion  to  the 
views  of  those  who  opposed  infant-baptism.  It  was 
more  than  possible  that  his  adherents  would  refuse 
to  give  attention  to  his  reasons ;  they  might  even 
dismiss  him  on  the  spot,  and  return  to  the  commu- 
nity from  which  they  had  but  recently  taken  their 
leave.  Consequently  Mr.  Carmichael,  who  is  sus- 
pected to  have  been  devoid  of  any  thing  like  stabil- 
ity of  character,  still  persisted  in  the  practice  of 
baptizing  infants.  (Memoirs  of  M'Lean,  pp.  xxiii 
and  xxiv.) 

After  the  lapse  of  a  twelvemonth,  however,  Car- 
michael had  succeeded  in  convincing  five  of  his  seven 
parishioners  of  the  unlawfulness  of  infant-baptism, 
and  of  the  propriety  of  immersion  as  the  act  of  bap- 
tism. Apparently  by  their  vote  or  consent,  he  was 
despatched  to  London  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
immersion  at  the  hands  of  some  of  the  Baptist  minis- 


26 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


tens  of  England.  He  was  immersed  at  the  baptistery 
in  the  Barbican,  by  Dr.  John  Gill,  on  the  9th  of 
October  1T65.  On  his  return  to  Edinburgh,  he  in 
his  turn  immersed  the  five  persons  who  had  con- 
sorted with  him,  and  two  pjliprs ;  thus  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  Sandemar;^  1  «irch  of  the  im- 
mersion observance,  who  c  u  it>p  ignated 
by  the  name  of  4*  Scotch  ,  ourses,  p.  44,  note.) 
xxiv.)  The  Sandemanians  of -the  ^:Mge  of  Carmi- 
ance,  under  the  lead  of  Sandeman  ana  Ha*  onpq- 
in  the  custom  of  expressing  their  disgust  against  this 
unwelcome  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  portion  of  their 
adherents,  by  denouncing  the  same  as  Anabaptists. 
(Letters  and  Discourses  of  Robert  Sandeman,  Dundee, 
1851,  p.  48,  note.) 

After  a  few  weeks,  M'Lean  drew  nigh  from  Glas- 
gow, and  caused  himself  to  be  immersed.  In  the 
month  of  July  1767,  he  went  to  London  for  the 
purpose  of  trying  his  fortunes  as  a  printer  (Memoirs, 
p.  xix)  :  but  failing  to  meet  with  such  a  degree  of 
encouragement  as  he  desired,  he  accepted  a  position 
in  Edinburgh  which  brought  him  into  immediate 
contact  with  Carmichael  and  the  immersed  Sande- 
manians of  that  place.  He  entered  Edinburgh  in 
December  1767 :  in  June  1768,  he  was  raised  from 
his  station  as  a  private  member,  to  the  dignity  of 
fellow-elder  with  Carmichael.  (Memoirs,  pp.  xxiv, 
xxi,  xxv.)  Although  there  were  only  nine  mem- 
bers in  the  community  (Benedict,  ed.  2,  p.  355), 
Sandemanian  literalism  was  very  strenuous  to  re- 


"TIIE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL"  IMPROVED.  27 


quire  that  they  should  maintain  a  plurality  of 
elders. 

It  was  only  a  brief  season  before  Carmichael  found 
it  convenient  to  quit  the  immersed  Sandemanians, 
and  to  return  to  th^  Sandemanians  of  the  aspersion 
observance;  »«  ~  ir  1773,  he  was  presiding  over 
such^ig  ciocumen  ?gb>  (Memoir  of  Mr.  William 
on  the  2d  of  Julv  'vas  perhaps  the  same  church 

it  by  due  cou^  ^andeman  left  behind  when  he  came 
-  in  the  year  1764.  (Biography  of  San- 
deman,  prefixed  to  his  Discourses,  Dundee,  1857, 
p.  xi.)  The  founder  of  the  so-called  "  Scotch  Baptists 99 
was,  therefore,  one  of  the  first  to  leave  the  church 
which  he  had  established;  it  is  suspected  that  his 
convictions  were  either  not  very  strong  or  not  very 
sincere.  By  the  defection  of  Carmichael,  Mr.  M'Lean 
was  immediately  recognized  as  the  undisputed  leader 
of  the  immersed  Sandemanians. 

M'Lean  had  not  been  long  installed  in  his  position 
at  Edinburgh  before  his  mind  was  persuaded  that  it 
would  be  a  feasible  enterprise  to  make  some  improve- 
ments upon  "  the  ancient  gospel,"  as  invented  by  the 
philosophy  of  Mr.  Sandeman.  The  latter  gentleman 
appeared  to  consider  that  he  was  set  to  oppose  every 
prominent  tenet  that  had  come  to  be  advocated  by 
the  Seceders  or  by  others,  who,  within  the  limits  of 
Scotland  or  elsewhere,  had  in  any  way  been  influ- 
enced by  the  progress  of  the  Wesleyan  revival.  While 
the  Westminster  Confession  had  inculcated  the  doc- 
trine of  assurance  of  faith,  it  had  been  studious  to 


28 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


avoid  including  that  grace  in  the  contents  of  saving 
faith.  On  the  contrary,  it  expressly  provides  (chap, 
xviii.  sec.  3)  that  "  this  infallible  assurance  doth  not 
so  belong  to  the  essence  of  faith,  but  that  a  true  be- 
liever may  wait  long,  and  conflict  with  many  difficul- 
ties, before  he  be  partaker  of  it ;  yet,  being  enabled 
by  the  Spirit  to  know  the  things  which  are  freely 
given  him  of  God,  he  may,  without  extraordinary 
revelation,  in  the  right  use  of  ordinary  means,  attain 
thereunto." 

The  Seceders  and  many  others,  including  some  of 
the  more  zealous  pastors  within  the  Established 
Church,  had  now  begun  to  reckon  a  fixed  assurance 
of  one's  personal  acceptance  as  belonging  among  the 
invariable  elements  of  saving  faith.  Sandeman  nat- 
urally took  umbrage  against  this  innovation  on  the 
part  of  the  "  popular  preachers ; "  and,  in  keeping  with 
his  character  and  position,  he  was  soon  found  at  the 
opposite  extreme,  not  only  denying  that  assurance  is 
of  the  essence  of  saving  faith,  but  also  affirming  that 
the  Christian  could  never  attain  to  any  better  estate 
in  this  world  than  an  assurance  of  the  possibility  of 
his  personal  salvation.  He  understands  the  "  ancient 
gospel "  to  be  that  "  divine  truth  which  affords  hope 
to  the  vilest  transgressor,  that  he  may  be  justified, 
that  he  may  escape  the  curse."  (Letter  on  Theron 
and  Aspasio,  N.Y.,  1838,  p.  290 ;  cf.  M'Lean's  Com- 
mission of  Jesus  Christ,  Edinburgh,  1786,  p.  96,  foot- 
note.) Sandeman  likewise  adds  (p.  295)  that  "  the 
simple  belief  of  the  gospel  "  (which,  according  to  him, 


"THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL"  IMPROVED.  29 


is  all  that  faith  implies  or  embraces)  "leaves  a  man, 
even  in  the  full  assurance  of  faith,  or  when  the  truth 
is  most  present  to  his  thoughts,  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  God  for  salvation,  and  leads  him  to  the  greatest 
reverence  for,  and  submission  to,  the  Divine  sove- 
reignty, without  having  any  claim  upon  God  whatso- 
ever, or  finding  any  reason  why  God  should  regard 
him  more  than  those  who  perish." 

Mr.  M'Lean  was  not  well  content  with  this  comfort- 
less view  of  his  master's.  Accordingly,  in  the  work 
on  the  "  Commission  of  Jesus  Christ,"  already  men- 
tioned, while  he  continues  to  accept  Sandeman's  con- 
ceit about  the  nature  of  evangelical  faith  (p.  80),  he 
demurs  to  the  conclusion  that  "  the  bare  belief  of  the 
bare  truth"  will  do  nothing  more  than  Sandeman 
affirmed  for  the  benefit  of  the  individual  subject,  and 
assumes  the  ground  that  this  bare  belief  is  just  as 
capable  of  conveying  the  immediate  assurance  of  sal- 
vation as  was  the  saving  faith  advocated  by  the  most 
ardent  Seceder.    (Commission,  as  above,  pp.  90-98.) 

The  hyper-Calvinist  opinions  of  Sandeman  were 
likewise  no  longer  acceptable  to  M'Lean,  seeing  that 
they  were  employed  not  as  ordinarily  to  confirm  the 
assurance  of  the  faithful,  but  on  the  contrary  to  pre- 
vent them  from  cherishing  any  stronger  faith  than 
that  which  affirms  a  possibility  that  the  most  devout 
and  correct  of  them  may  be  justified.  That  was, 
indeed,  a  distressing  prospect  which  others  besides 
M'Lean —  persons  who  stood  much  nearer  to  the 
master  —  were  pained  to  accept. 


30 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


From  considerations  of  this  kind  the  leader  of  the 
immersed  wing  of  the  Sandemanian  fraternity  appears 
to  have  conceived  a  certain  distaste  for  the  extreme 
views  regarding  the  Calvinistic  system  of  truth,  which 
prevailed  in  the  opposing  camp.  He  was,  therefore, 
able  to  content  himself  with  a  somewhat  moderate 
position  in  relation  to  questions  of  that  nature. 

Professing  to  hold  in  good  esteem  the  bare  belief 
by  means  of  which  Sandeman  had  relegated  the  ori- 
gin of  personal  religion  to  the  sphere  of  the  intellect, 
excluding  any  right  operations  of  the  emotions  or  of 
the  will,  he  was  nevertheless,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
unable  to  obtain  a  very  high  degree  of  confidence  in 
the  efficacy  of  an  agent  that  was  so  attenuated.  The 
assurance  which  this  mere  belief  might  be  compe- 
tent to  bestow  was  cried  up,  indeed,  as  the  best  arti- 
cle in  that  line  which  was  then  offered  to  the  favor 
of  the  "professing  world;"  but  flaming  commenda- 
tions of  this  kind  had  long  since  become  familiar, 
and  they  were  generally  estimated  at  their  proper 
value. 

In  order,  therefore,  to  improve  his  emasculated 
faith,  —  "  to  make  assurance  double  sure,  and  take  a 
bond  of  fate,"  —  M'Lean  resolved  to  provide  this 
mere  intellectual  exercise  with  a  buttress  that  was 
designed  to  support  its  weakness  and  secure  its 
existence.  This  buttress  consisted  of  an  addition  to 
the  design  of  baptism,  which  necessarily  had  escaped 
the  attention  of  the  party  which  continued  in  the 
practice  of  infant-baptism.    What  mere  belief  could 


"THE  ANCIENT  GOSPEL"  IMPROVED.  31 

not  do,  in  that  it  was  weak,  it  was  hoped  might  be 
performed  by  the  immersion  of  believers  in  water. 
Accordingly  Mr.  M'Lean  advances  the  peculiar  the- 
ory of  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins.  (Commis- 
sion of  Jesus  Christ,  Edinburgh,  1786,  pp.  129-137). 
Baptism  was  clearly  asserted  to  be  necessary  to  sal- 
vation (pp.  131,  132)  ;  not  in  the  way  of  baptismal 
regeneration,  however,  but  in  the  way  of  effecting 
the  remission  of  sins  after  the  act  of  mere  belief. 

Another  feature  of  Mr.  M 'Lean's  teaching  on  the 
subject  of  baptism  is  found  in  the  fact  that  he 
insisted  that  it  should  be  performed,  not  "in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,"  as  is 
the  custom  of  the  balance  of  the  Christian  world,  but 
on  the  contrary  "  into  the  name,  etc."  (Commission,  * 
as  above,  pp.  110-114).  He  likewise  maintains  in 
the  same  connection  (p.  113),  that  "the  Holy  Spirit 
was  not  given,  in  a  way  peculiar  to  the  gospel  dis- 
pensation, during  John's  baptism,  nor  till  Christ 
was  glorified." 

Each  of  the  peculiarities  above  described  has  been 
reproduced  by  the  Disciples  (or  Campbellites)  in 
America.  They  reject  infant-baptism  ;  they  practise 
immersion  exclusively  for  baptism ;  they  hold  the 
necessity  of  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,  urging  * 
the  very  same  passages  of  Scripture,  and  in  the  same 
way,  as  Archibald  M'Lean,  in  support  of  that  notion  ; 
they  insist  upon  the  propriety  of  baptizing  "  into  the 
name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit ;  "  and  they 
declare  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  not  com- 


32 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHBIST. 


pletely  set  up  until  the  Day  of  Pentecost.  If  the 
above  were  not  matters  of  common  fame,  it  would  be 
in  order  to  produce  citations  from  their  literature  in 
each  case ;  but,  as  nobody  will  think  or  care  to  call 
in  question  the  fact  that  these  things  are  now  cus- 
tomary in  the  ranks  of  the  Disciples,  it  may  not  be 
necessary  to  bring  forward  any  such  special  proofs  of 
the  statements  here  advanced. 


THE  UALDANEANS. 


33 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  HALDAXEAXS. 

The  tide  of  religious  revival  flowed  so  strongly  in 
Scotland,  that  at  length,  just  before  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  it  reached  the  ranks  of  the  laity 
also.  These  now  began  to  experience  an  amount  of 
confidence  and  zeal  which  was  sufficient  to  induce 
them  to  go  forward  in  Christian  labor,  and  in  some 
instances  even  to  assume  the  functions,  and  to  invade 
the  prerogatives,  of  the  regular  clergy.  The  most 
prominent  in  this  somewhat  notable  movement  were 
the  brothers  Robert  and  James  Alexander  Haldane. 
They  were  of  gentle  birth  and  breeding.  Robert,  who 
was  the  elder,  had  in  possession  an  estate  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  standard  then  prevalent  in  Scotland, 
was  regarded  as  highly,  respectable. 

On  the  6th  of  May  1797,  nearly  two  and  twenty 
years  after  the  establishment  of  the  first  society  of 
"  Scotch  Baptists  "  or  immersed  Sandemanians,  the 
tongue  of  James  Alexander  Haldane  was  loosed. 
He  delivered  his  maiden  discourse  to  a  company  of 
colliers  at  the  village  of  Gilmerton,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Edinburgh.  His  social  position,  combined  with 
his  previous  experience  of  life,  and  his  remarkable 


34 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


abilities  in  the  line  of  popular  preaching,  imparted 
a  high  degree  of  interest  and  importance  to  this 
event.  (Memoirs  of  Robert  and  James  Alexander 
Haldane,  by  Alexander  Haldane,  Esq.,  New  York, 
1853,  pp.  140,  141.) 

James  Alexander  Haldane  followed  the  sea  in  his 
earlier  years,  where  he  had  attained  the  dignity  of 
captain  in  the  merchant  marine,  and  only  a  short 
while  previously  had  resigned  command  of  the  ship 
"  Melville  Castle,"  that  was  engaged  in  the  East-India 
service.  (Memoirs,  as  above,  p.  74.)  After  his  in- 
troduction to  the  work  of  lay-preaching  at  Gilmerton, 
Mr.  Haldane  was  seized  with  an  unwonted  degree  of 
religious  fervor  and  pious  solicitude.  A  little  more 
than  two  months  from  that  date,  on  the  12th  of  July, 
he  set  forward  on  a  missionary  journey  to  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  which  was  rewarded  with  so  large 
a  share  of  encouragement  and  success,  that,  before  it 
was  concluded  on  the  7th  of  November  1797,  his 
name  and  his  enterprise  were  the  occasion  of  general 
remark. 

Events  now  fell  out  with  much  rapidity  in  the 
progress  of  the  revival.  Instead  of  remaining  quietly 
in  the  bosom  of  the  Kirk,  where  was  ample  room  for 
them,  and  many  gave  their  sympathy,  the  Haldane 
brothers  were  soon  taking  steps  which  looked  in  the 
direction  of  a  secession  from  that  institution.  On 
the  11th  of  January,  1798,  was  formed  by  them  and 
such  of  their  friends  as  would  allow  their  names  to  be 
used  in  that  relation,  a  "  Society  for  Propagating  the 


THE  HALDANEANS. 


35 


Gospel  at  Home."  (Memoirs,  pp.  178, 179.)  A  single 
year  was  space  enough,  after  this  step  had  been  per- 
formed, for  the  movement  to  develop  into  a  church 
organization.  In  January  1799,  the  first  Haldanean 
society  was  constituted  at  Edinburgh,  and  on  the  3d 
of  February  they  publicly  ordained  James  A.  Haldane 
to  be  their  pastor.    (Memoirs,  p.  217.) 

The  public  are  familiar  with  the  marvels  that  were 
accomplished  by  the  promoters  of  this  enterprise  in 
the  period  between  the  years  1797  and  1808,  as  like- 
wise with  the  lamentable  declension  which  then  set 
in  and  almost  in  a  day  destroyed  its  usefulness  and 
promise. 

The  causes  of  that  unhappy  catastrophe  are  pretty 
clearly  suggested  in  the  biography  of  the  Haldanes 
already  cited ;  by  the  aid  of  the  light  which  is  there 
supplied,  it  is  possible  to  trace  the  operation  of  these 
causes  from  stage  to  stage  in  the  downward  course. 
At  the  very  beginning  of  the  undertaking,  James  A. 
Haldane  chanced  to  be  on  an  intimate  footing  with 
a  certain  Dr.  Charles  Stuart  of  Dunearn  (Memoirs, 
p.  140).  This  gentleman  was  likewise  of  noble 
blood,  of  excellent  learning,  many  attractive  social 
qualities,  and  of  the  queerest  kind  of  a  head.  He 
had  begun  life  as  a  minister  in  the  Established  Kirk. 
After  his  accession  to  the  parish  of  Cramond,  near 
Edinburgh,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  a  daughter 
of  the  venerable  John  Erskine,  the  leader  of  the 
evangelical  wing  in  that  institution  (Memoirs,  pp. 
125,  126)  ;  but  he  was  not  appointed  to  pursue  his 


36 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


career  in  peace  and  usefulness.  The  biographer  of 
the  Halclanes  (p.  141)  declares  that  "in  his  thirst  for 
general  information  and  the  society  of  good  men, 
Dr.  Stuart  had  gone  from  the  Divinity  Hall  in  Edin- 
burgh, to  some  of  the  Dissenting  Academies  in 
London,  and  there  imbibed  notions  unfavorable  to 
the  union  between  Church  and  State."  Whatever 
may  be  the  fact  regarding  his  visits  to  London,  the 
notions  which  he  entertained  and  propagated  on  that 
topic  were  to  be  had  much  nearer  home ;  they  were 
the  leading  article  of  the  Independents,  or  Sande- 
manians,  and  might  be  read  any  day  in  the  "  Testi- 
mony of  the  King  of  Martyrs,"  the  principal  work 
of  Mr.  John  Glas.  It  was  published  in  Edinburgh, 
just  under  the  nose  of  Dr.  Stuart,  and  was  kept 
on  sale  in  most  of  the  booksellers'  shops  of  the 
country. 

More  than  this,  Dr.  Stuart  had  acquired  convictions 
against  the  propriety  of  the  practice  of  infant-bap- 
tism and  against  the  mode  of  baptism  by  aspersion ; 
and  at  the  moment  when  he  conceived  his  perhaps 
interested  admiration  for  James  A.  Haldane,  he  was 
duly  numbered  in  the  lists  of  the  "  Scotch  Baptists," 
or  Sandemanians  of  the  immersion  observance  (Mem- 
oirs, p.  141,  p.  338,  and  pp.  511,  512)  ;  and  was  a 
member  of  Archibald  M'Lean's  Church  (Memoirs  of 
William  Braidwood,  p.  36,  note). 

When  James  A.  Haldane  preached  his  first  ser- 
mon in  the  evening  of  the  6th  of  May  1797,  this 
ardent  and  excellent  "  Scotch  Baptist "  was  present  to 


THE  BALD  AN  E AN  S. 


37 


applaud  the  effort.  He  seems  almost  upon  the  spot 
to  have  conceived  the  ambition  to  make  a  proselyte  * 
of  his  friend.  He  declared  that  to  see  him  a  Baptist 
would  be  the  consummation  of  his  earthly  felicity. 
He  "took  much  pains  to  inculcate  Baptist  views 
upon  Haldane ;  attended  his  ministry,  listened  to  his 
preaching  with  rapt  admiration,  and  called  on  him 
two  or  three  times  in  every  week  to  discuss  the  topics 
which  were  delivered  from  the  pulpit."  No  art  or 
blandishment  of  the  determined  and  skilful  prose 
lytizer  was  neglected.  It  is  with  justice  that  the 
biographer  admits  (p.  141),  "  There  is  no  doubt  that 
Dr.  Stuart's  influence  on  Mr.  James  Haldane  was 
considerable,  as  it  was  also  on  several  other  eminent 
men."  In  sad  truth  this  excellent,  wrong-headed 
gentleman  was  the  evil  genius  of  the  Haldanes  and 
of  their  cause.  Had  they  at  the  outset  possessed  a 
sufficient  amount  of  insight  and  foresight  to  have 
bestowed  upon  him  a  firm  and  enduring  repulse,  they 
might  have  escaped  the  shipwreck  which  shortly 
stranded  themselves  and  their  movement  on  the 
shallows  of  Sandemanian  literalism. 

We  are  given  to  understand  that  there  were  "  sev- 
eral other  eminent  men  "  over  whom  Dr.  Stuart  ex- 
erted a  degree  of  injurious  influence.  Notable  among 
these  was  Mr.  Greville  Ewing,  one  of  the  leading  < 
co-adjutors  of  the  Haldanes.  Already  before  the 
year  1795  there  were  possibly  some  relations  of  inti- 
macy between  Stuart  and  Ewing,  for  in  that  year  we 
find  the  latter  advocating  the  practice  of  "mutual 


38 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


exhortation "  from  the  pulpit  of  Lady  Glenorchy's 
chapel  in  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  assistant  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Jones.  (Facts  and  Documents  respecting 
the  Connections  which  have  subsisted  between  Robert 
Haldane,  Esq.,  and  Greville  Ewing.  By  Greville 
Ewing.  Glasgow  1809,  pp.  127,  128,  note.)  Mr. 
Ewing  likewise  declares  elsewhere  in  the  same  work 
(p.  8),  that  the  origin  of  his  dissatisfaction  with  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  of  which  he  was  a  minister,  "  was 
the  exercise  of  a  power  by  church  courts  over  minis- 
ters and  congregations,  which  restrained  the  former 
from  preaching  wherever  they  had  an  opportunity, 
and  the  latter  from  adopting  any  plan  for  mutual 
edification  and  comfort,''  —  a  kind  of  scruple  which, 
in  the  latter  instance,  has  a  decided  odor  of  Dr. 
Stuart  and  the  Sandemanians. 

In  the  year  1796,  a  twelvemonth  before  the  project 
of  the  Haldanes  was  mooted,  the  celebrated  "  Mis- 
sionary Magazine  "  was  commenced  "  under  the  aus- 
pices of  Dr.  Stuart,  with  Mr.  Ewing  as  editor." 
(Memoirs,  p.  141.)  A  connection  of  this  kind,  in 
which  an  active  and  prominent  minister  of  the  Kirk 
allowed  himself  to  become,  in  a  certain  sort,  the 
spokesman,  if  not  the  creature,  of  a  leading  character 
among  the  "  Scotch  Baptists,"  could  not  fail  to  excite 
remark  and  to  give  offence.  It  was,  therefore,  in  no 
way  singular  that  Mr.  Ewing's  position  in  the  Estab- 
lishment should  every  day  become  more  untenable. 
(Memoirs,  p.  179.)  In  the  progress  of  time  and  in- 
struction, his  conversion  to  the  practices  and  tenets 


THE  IIALDANEANS. 


39 


of  the  immersed  Sandemanians  might  have  become 
as  complete  and  extensive  as  that  of  the  brothers 
Haldane  subsequently  was,  if  the  relation  with  Stuart 
had  not  been  early  broken  off  by  changes  which  will 
be  mentioned  in  their  place  farther  on.  The  "  Mis- 
sionary Magazine "  was  not  infrequently  supplied 
with  articles  which  suggested  that  the  editor  was 
making  fair  advances  in  the  doctrines  of  the  proprie- 
tor.   (Memoirs,  p.  214.) 

When  it  is  brought  to  mind  that  this  same 
"Missionary  Magazine,"  "under  the  auspices  of  Dr. 
Stuart,"  and  whose  editor  was,  after  a  fashion,  his 
disciple,  became  from  the  beginning  the  official 
organ  of  the  Haldanean  enterprise,  it  will  be  ap- 
parent how  large  a  hold  the  immersed  wing  of  the 
Sandemanian  sect  had  acquired  upon  the  fortunes 
and  the  future  of  a  promising  cause.  To  some  minds 
it  may  seem  a  fair  conclusion  that  it  was  never  possi- 
ble for  the  new  church  to  have  attained  permanent 
success.  Too  many  elements,  which  could  signify 
no  other  fate  than  early  disaster,  were  present  at  its 
inception.  None  of  the  least  of  these  may  be  per- 
ceived in  the  circumstance  that  when,  in  the  month 
of  December  1798,  the  project  of  founding  a  church 
was  broached,  Mr.  Ewing,  "as  being  most  familiar 
with  such  matters,  was  requested  to  draw  up  a  plan 
for  its  government."    (Memoirs,  p.  214.) 

For  a  season  after  the  inauguration  of  the  earliest 
church,  in  January  1799,  the  best  wishes  of  the  Hal- 
danes  were  fulfilled ;  but  it  was  a  sadly  brief  season. 


40 


THE  DISCIPLES  OE  CHRIST. 


The  storms  which  they  had  not  the  wisdom  and 
experience  to  forecast  speedily  began  to  gather  about 
their  heads.  As  soon  as  Mr.  Ewing  had  seceded 
from  the  Church  of  Scotland,  he  placed  himself  at  the 
service  of  Robert  Haldane  to  be  employed  in  for- 
warding the  plans  that  gentleman  had  in  mind.  Mr. 
Haldane  had  made  arrangements  to  send  a  class  of 
students  to  Gosport,  England,  where  they  might 
remain  for  a  time  under  the  care  of  the  well-known 
Dr.  Bogue,  as  a  means  of  preparing  them  for  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  But  it  was  given  to  Mr. 
Ewing  to  persuade  his  friend  that  it  would  be  wiser 
to  commit  these  students  to  his  own  care,  since  there 
were  somewhat  decided  objections  against  Dr.  Bogue 
in  Scotland,  and  perhaps  elsewhere,  on  the  score  of 
his  liberal  politics.    On  the  2d  of  January  1799, 

*  Greville  Ewing  opened  his  seminary  of  theology  in 
Edinburgh.  The  number  of  pupils  at  first  was 
twenty-four,  derived  from  various  denominations, 
except  the  Congregationalists  or  Sandemanians ;  but 
before  the  course  was  ended,  one  of  their  number 
affirms  that  they  all  found  themselves  decided  and 
intelligent  Congregationalists.  (Memoirs,  p.  228.) 
This  was  a  marked  degree  of  success.    Few  men  are 

✓  to  be  found  who  had  a  surer  command  of  the  arts  of 
proselytizing  than  Mr.  Ewing. 

Yet  there  were  reasons  why  Robert  Haldane 
should  not  be  highly  elated  by  the  triumphs  of  his 
subordinate.  Mr.  Ewing  was  much  addicted  to  the 
writings  of  Glas  and  Sandeman ;  but  at  this  particu- 


THE  HALDANEANS. 


41 


lar  period  of  his  career  Mr.  Haldane  was  less  favorably 
inclined  towards  those  theologians  than  he  sub- 
sequently came  to  be,  through  the  unhappy  influence 
of  Dr.  Stuart  upon  the  mind  of  James  A.  Haldane. 
Accordingly,  when  Ewing  put  the  books  that  have 
been  referred  to  in  the  hands  of  the  students  (Facts 
and  Documents,  as  above,  p.  79,  cf.  p.  82),  Mr. 
Haldane  considered  he  was  entitled  to  interpose, 
which  step  he  took  immediately,  while  Ewing  and 
the  students  were  still  in  the  city  of  Edinburgh. 
(Facts  and  Documents,  pp.  134,  135.)  This  must 
have  been  the  beginning  of  the  troubles  which  for 
so  many  years  wasted  the  strength  and  spirits  of 
the  two  men,  and  ultimately  brought  calamities  on 
the  cause  they  had  engaged  to  promote. 

When  his  attention  was  first  directed  to  the 
danger  that  existed  in  Edinburgh,  Robert  Haldane 
assumed  a  wise  position.  If  he  had  but  pressed 
forward  vigorously  in  the  sentiments  which  he  then 
entertained,  he  might  have  rescued  his  interests  from 
ruin.  He  was  opposed  even  to  the  notions  of  Church 
order  inculcated  by  Glas  and  Sandeman,  as  well  as 
to  their  "  ancient  gospel "  (Facts  and  Documents, 
pp.  134,  135)  ;  but  on  this  side  of  the  subject  his 
sentiments  later  underwent  an  unhappy  modification 
(Facts  and  Documents,  p.  81),  and  he  embraced 
with  decision,  and  in  some  cases  with  passion,  a 
great  many  items  of  the  desolating  scheme  of  the 
Sandemanians. 

There  was  a  curious  play  of  cross  purposes  in  this 


42 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


business.  After  the  unpleasantness  which  occurred 
at  Edinburgh,  Mr.  Ewing  seemed  to  consider  it  the 
main  concern  of  his  existence  to  find  a  place  in  every 
question  which  should  be  on  the  opposite  side  from 
that  which  Robert  Haldane  was  led  to  assume. 
Therefore,  at  the  moment  when  Haldane  in  his  turn 
began  to  dabble  considerably  in  the  "  ancient  order 
of  things,"  Ewing  was  beginning  to  insist  on  occupy- 
ing the  old  ground.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  the 
counsel  which  he  had  brought  himself  to  accept  from 
Glas  and  Sandeman  in  the  details  of  Church  order, 
Robert  Haldane  could  never  prevail  upon  himself  to 
v  receive  as  true  what  they  had  inculcated  regarding 
the  nature  of  saving  faith.  Observing  this  pecul- 
iarity, Ewing,  always  in  the  opposition,  became  more 
and  more  attached  to  the  Sandemanian  notion  that 
faith  is  nothing  else  than  bare  belief. 

According  to  the  legally  formulated  terms  of  an 
arrangement  that  had  been  fixed  upon  already  before 
he  was  given  charge  of  the  students,  Ewing  removed 
to  Glasgow  at  Whitsunday  1799,  to  take  the  pastoral 
oversight  of  a  church  which  he  was  expected  to 
organize  in  the  Circus,  a  large  building  there  which 
Robert  Haldane  had  recently  purchased  for  three 
thousand  pounds,  and  fitted  up  for  the  purpose  of 
religious  worship.  The  seminary  was  also  removed 
with  him.  Confidence  between  the  two  men  being 
now  to  a  large  extent  destroyed,  it  was  the  earnest 
desire  of  Ewing  to  become  entirely  independent  of 
Mr.  Haldane  (Facts  and  Documents,  p.  24),  by 


THE  HALDANEANS. 


43 


securing  the  Circus  building  for  himself  and  for  the 
people  who  should  join  his  society.  He  hoped  to 
effect  this  purpose  by  inducing  Haldane  to  make 
over  the  house  to  his  people  in  the  way  of  a  gift ; 
but  the  latter  was  not  in  the  least  disposed  to  accede 
to  that  proposal.  Ewing  persisted  for  a  number  of 
years,  always  becoming  more  and  more  imbittered 
and  unreasonable,  until  at  last  both  parties  appeared 
before  the  public  in  volumes  of  abusive  charges  di- 
rected against  each  other.  But  the  difference  is 
believed  to  have  started  from  nothing  else  than  a 
contrariety  of  opinions  regarding  the  merits  of  the 
Sandemanians.  Except  for  this  issue  the  two  might 
have  passed  their  whole  lives  without  a  word  of 
conflict. 

Not  in  the  least  willing  to  respect  the  wishes  of 
Haldane,  Mr.  Ewing,  after  Iris  removal  to  the  West, 
still  kept  the  writings  of  Glas  and  Sandeman  prom- 
inently before  his  students.  Robert  Haldane  was 
much  chafed  by  that  usage.  When  James  A. 
Haldane  went  to  Dumfries  in  the  summer  of  the 
year  1801,  being  now  at  a  distance  from  Edinburgh 
and  from  his  brother,  he  wrote  Ewing  a  letter  which' 
had  possibly  been  suggested  before  he  left  home, 
warning  him  against  the  retention  of  these  books  in 
the  seminary,  and  complaining  of  his  enthusiastic 
manner  of  speaking  of  those  frigid  and  bitter  theo- 
logians. (Memoirs,  pp.  321,  322.)  This  resource, 
which  was  perhaps  immediately  suspected,  did  not  in 
the  least  avail:  Ewing  kept  on  his  way.    At  last, 


44 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


in  the  year  1802,  hopeless  of  his  ability  to  reduce 
him  to  terms  by  any  other  means,  Robert  Haldane 
incontinently  removed  the  seminary  from  Glasgow 
back  to  Edinburgh,  and  placed  it  in  other  hands. 
(Memoirs,  pp.  299,  300.)  When  the  institution  was. 
opened  in  the  latter  place,  Mr.  Haldane  not  only 
forbade  the  books  of  Glas  and  Sandeman  in  the 
library,  but  laid  upon  the  students  an  express  pro- 
hibition against  reading  them  anywhere  else.  (Facts 
and  Documents,  p.  82.) 

But  the  time  was  far  past  for  such  precautions. 
Sandeman ian  principles  were  already  too  deeply  es- 
tablished in  the  minds  of  his  people,  to  admit  of  their 
successful  eviction  by  that  or  by  any  other  method. 
Dr.  Stuart,  especially,  was  whispering  them  into  the 
ear  of  James  A.  Haldane  in  two  or  three  private 
interviews  every  week ;  and  Robert  Haldane  himself 
appears  after  a  few  years,  through  the  influence  of 
his  brother,  to  perform  the  r61e  of  an  exceedingly 
tenacious  stickler  for  some  of  the  most  fantastic  fea- 
tures of  the  "  ancient  order  of  things."  (Facts  and 
Documents,  pp.  93-95  ;  Memoirs,  pp.  322-327.)  In 
this  regard  he  outstripped  Mr.  Ewing  by  many  de- 
grees, and  sometimes  sorely  harassed  the  consciences 
of  his  adherents;  but  in  regard  to  the  nature  of 
faith,  Ewing  was  much  in  the  lead  of  both  the 
brothers. 

When,  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1800,  Mr.  Ewing 
at  length,  on  the  occasion  of  a  temporary  truce  with 
Haldane  (Facts  and  Documents,  pp.  58-64),  got  the 


THE  II A  LI)  A  X  EA  X  8. 


45 


consent  of  his  mind  to  organize  a  church  among  the 
people  who  attended  upon  his  ministry  at  Glasgow, 
he  issued  a  handbill  for  the  instruction  of  his  con- 
gregation and  of  the  public,  entitled  "  Regulations  of 
the  Church,  Jamaica  Street,"  in  which  were  included 
two  items  of  the  "ancient  order;"  namely,  the  mutual 
exhortation  of  the  members  of  the  Church,  and  the 
weekly  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  With  re- 
gard to  the  former  of  these,  however,  the  document 
seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  to  be  held  not  on  Sun- 
day, but  upon  some  other  day  of  the  week.  It  is 
also  strict  to  insist  upon  what  must  have  been  a 
highly  necessary  provision :  "  that  no  personal  re- 
marks, or  injurious  reports  respecting  character, 
were  to  be  allowed  in  the  Church."  (Facts  and 
Documents,  pp.  64,  65.) 

The  custom  of  "  mutual  exhortation,"  the  absence 
of  which  from  the  Scottish  Kirk  had  given  him  an 
amount  of  uneasiness,  had  likewise  been  duly  intro- 
duced by  Mr.  Ewing  into  the  constitution  of  the 
Edinburgh  society  in  December  1798.  (Address  by 
James  A.  Haldane  to  the  Church  of  Christ,  Leith 
Walk,  Edinburgh.  Edinburgh  1808,  p.  11.  This 
address  is  bound  up  at  the  back  of  Mr.  Haldane's 
volume  entitled  "A  View  of  the  Social  Worship 
and  Ordinances  of  the  First  Christians,"  Edinburgh 
1806.)  But  the  Church  in  Edinburgh  gave  no  prac- 
tical heed  to  that  portion  of  their  ecclesiastical  chart 
until  a  later  period,  when  the  practice  was  inaugu- 
rated with  a  degree  of  success  that  was  disgusting 


46 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


even  to  such  a  stanch  advocate  of  M  primitive  Chris- 
tianity''as  Dr.  Stuart  himself.  (Memoirs,  p.  840.) 
On  the  other  hand,  the  custom  of  weekly  communion 
was  not  introduced  by  Mr.  Ewing,  at  the  outset,  into 
the  constitution  which  he  had  drawn  up  for  the  use 
of  the  Edinburgh  society,  since  it  was  for  several 
years  the  habit  of  that  body  to  celebrate  the  Lord's 
Supper  only  once  in  the  month.  (Facts  and  Docu- 
ments, p.  129.)  When,  however,  the  improved  ex- 
ample of  the  Glasgow  Church  became  known  to  the 
disciples  in  Edinburgh,  they  likewise  soon  began  to 
break  the  loaf  every  Sunday. 

But  the  Haldanes  were  not  prepared  to  stop  at  this 
point.  James  Haldane.  being  constantly  in  receipt  of 
new  light  from  Dr.  Stuart  and  other  Sandemanian 
sources,  could  not  abide  that  his  brilliancy  should 
be  concealed  under  a  bushel.  Accordingly,  in  the 
year  1805,  he  sent  forth  the  first  edition  of  his 

View  of  the  Social  Worship  and  Ordinances,"  the 
second  edition  of  which  has  just  been  cited  above. 
There  it  is  evident  that  he  had  made  decided  prog- 
ress in  the  lore  of  the  Sandemanians.  Their  dialect 
is  in  very  fine  flow  upon  his  pen.  He  stands  forth 
like  a  man  for  the  "express  precept  or  approved 
precedent,*'  about  which  Thomas  Campbell  was  to 
speak  with  so  much  pathos  a  few  years  later  in  the 
wilds  of  Pennsylvania.  There  should  be  no  creed 
nor  confession  of  faith  but  the  Scriptures.  Here 
was  the  first  distinct  demand  for  a  presbytery  with 
a  plurality  of  elders,  that  had  been  openly  uttered 


THE  IIALDANEANS. 


47 


in  the  Haldanean  connection.  The  collection  that 
was  always  customary  at  the  Lord's  Supper  now 
became  designated  as  "the  fellowship,"  after  the 
best  approved  Sandemanian  fashion. 

But  what  gave  Mr.  Ewing  particular  offence  was 
the  circumstance  that  "  mutual  exhortation,"  which  he 
had  confined  to  Wednesday  evening,  was  raised  by 
Haldane  to  the  dignity  of  a  divine  ordinance,  and 
assigned  to  a  place  among  the  regular  Sunday  ob- 
servances of  the  congregation.  Thereupon  he  began 
to  draw  back,  and  went  so  far  the  other  way,  that,  in 
the  end,  he  was  seriously  accused  of  entirely  desert- 
ing his  darling  innovation.  (Facts  and  Documents, 
pp.  126-129.)  Matters  finally  got  to  such  a  pass 
that  apparently  almost  the  only  principle  upon  which 
the  two  parties  were  heartily  at  one  related  to  the  J 
rejection  of  creeds.  Though  they  were  daily  plead- 
ing for  a  union  on  the  Bible,  by  some  kind  of  means 
they  were  daily  receding  farther  from  each  other, 
while  each  faction  was  accusing  the  other  of  a  passion 
for  change. 

Unhappily  for  all  concerned,  Robert  Haldane  was 
too  much  impressed  by  a  sense  of  the  correctness  and 
importance  of  the  Sandemanian  notions  that  had 
been  propounded  in  his  brother's  recent  publication. 
James  had  not  expected  or  desired  to  produce  any 
immediate  results  beyond  "inciting  his  brethren  in 
Christ  to  study  the  Scriptures  on  this  and  every  other 
subject,  and  to  appeal  only  to  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony."    (Preface,  p.  vii.)    But  shortly  after  the 


48 


TUE  DISCIPLES  OF  CUBIST. 


book  left  the  press  in  June  1805,  Robert  Haldane 
and  Mr.  Ballantyne  were  on  a  visit  to  England;  and, 
stopping  on  their  way  at  Newcastle,  they  remained 
for  some  time  practising  the  views  of  social  worship 
that  were  developed  in  it.  (Memoirs,  p.  324.)  Their 
conduct  in  this  regard  gave  much  offence.  (Memoirs, 
p.  327.)  Ballantyne  and  Haldane,  while  not  exclud- 
ing those  who  were  not  of  their  own  party,  publicly 
exhorted  one  another  in  the  forenoons,  and  mutually 
dispensed  the  Lord's  Supper,  without  directing  their 
remarks  in  the  least  to  the  audience  who  had  as- 
sembled for  worship,  while  in  the  afternoons  and 
evenings  they  preached  to  the  multitudes  as  usual. 
(Facts  and  Documents,  p.  248.) 

No  person  was  bold  enough  to  express  the  dissat- 
isfaction which  many  felt  against  the  conduct  of  the 
Haldanes,  until  the  year  1807,  when  Ballantyne  issued 
a  "  Treatise  on  the  Elder's  Office,"  in  which  the  posi- 
tion of  James  Haldane  and  the  Sandemanians  was 
duly  enforced  regarding  the  necessity  of  a  plurality 
of  these  functionaries  to  the  existence  of  a  gospel 
Church.  There  is  rarely  any  thing  sadder  to  witness 
than  the  spectacle  of  Robert  Haldane,  unquestionably 
a  splendid  mind  and  spirit,  leading  the  way  in  the 
puerile  figures  of  the  dance  which  John  Glas  had  in- 
structed his  own  followers.  Mr.  Haldane  became,  in 
an  offensive  sense,  responsible  for  the  work  of  Bal- 
lantyne (Facts  and  Documents,  pp.  97,  98),  doing 
every  thing  that  lay  in  his  power  to  give  it  counte- 
nance and  circulation. 


THE  HALDANEANS. 


49 


In  answer  to  the  challenge  which  he  conceived  had 
by  this  means  been  laid  npon  his  own  wing  of  the 
party,  Mr.  Ewing  forthwith  prepared  and  published 
an  u  Attempt  towards  a  Statement  of  the  Doctrine  of 
Scripture  on  some  disputed  points  respecting  the 
Constitution,  Government,  Worship,  and  Discipline 
of  the  Church  of  Christ,"  Glasgow  1808.  The  breach 
between  the  factions  was  now  first  made  public :  it  had 
long  been  incurable.  The  party  of  Ewing,  which, 
perhaps,  was  numerically  the  smaller,  became  hence- 
forth practically  isolated ;  but  their  sentiments  on  the 
subjects  of  faith,  infant-baptism,  the  mode  of  baptism, 
the  duty  of  weekly  communion  and  of  mutual  exhor- 
tation, placed  them  in  closer  sympathy  and  relations 
with  the  Sandemanians  of  the  aspersion  observance. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Haldanes  were  now  be- 
come, in  a  measure,  reckless.  In  order  that  the 
Edinburgh  Church  might  conform  to  the  apostolic 
model  in  the  matter  of  a  plurality  of  elders,  Robert 
was  speedily  ordained  to  occupy  a  place  by  the  side 
of  James  Alexander  in  that  function.  (Memoirs,  p. 
341.) 

Possibly  it  was  not  without  reference  to  the  cir- 
cumstance that  Mr.  Ewing  was  leaning  far  to  the 
side  of  the  Sandemanian  Independents,  that  James 
Haldane  now  began  to  turn  towards  the  "Scotch 
Baptists."  The  patient  labors  of  Charles  Stuart 
were  about  to  be  crowned  with  success.  This  con- 
summation was  promoted  by  the  action  of  Mr.  John 
Campbell,  a  beloved  associate  of  the  Haldanes,  who 


50 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


had  gone  over  to  the  "  Scotch  Baptist "  fraternity  as 
early  as  the  year  1803,  since  which  time  he  had  been 
pastor  of  a  church  at  Kingsland,  near  London. 
(Memoirs,  p.  297.)  In  a  letter  to  this  gentleman 
under  date  of  Feb.  19,  1808,  Haldane  expresses 
strong  scruples  regarding  the  propriety  of  infant- 
baptism.  (Memoirs,  p.  325.)  The  21st  of  April, 
1808,  was  the  date  of  another  communication  which 
announced  that  he  had  been  immersed.  (Memoirs, 
p.  325.)  In  a  few  months  Robert  also  followed  his 
brother  in  these  changes. 

This  action  did  not  result  in  any  kind  of  organic 
union  between  the  Haldaneans  and  the  party  that 
was  led  by  Mr.  Archibald  McLean,  but  it  was  not 
many  weeks  until  it  had  produced  a  hopeless  dis- 
ruption of  the  Edinburgh  Church  and  of  the  entire 
Haldanean  body.  The  enterprise  which  started 
forth  with  so  much  promise  was  brought  to  hopeless 
desolation.  There  has  been  scarcely  anywhere  in 
modern  Church  history  a  more  lame  and  impotent 
conclusion. 

The  Sandemanians  had  ruined  the  cause  and 
Church  of  the  Haldanes. 


MB.  CAMPBELL'S  PEBVEBSIOX.  51 


CHAPTER  VI. 

mr.  Campbell's  perversion  to  saitoemanianisbl 
(First  Stage.') 

It  was  not  easy  to  follow  in  detail  the  process  of 
Air.  Campbell's  perversion  to  Sandemanian  views, 
until  the  publication  of  his  biography  by  Professor 
Robert  Richardson,  an  early  disciple  and  for  many 
years  a  bosom  friend  of  the  most  prominent  advo- 
cate of  Sandemanianism  in  America.  Though  we 
are  indebted  to  his  "  Memoirs  of  Alexander  Camp- 
bell," Philadelphia  1868,  for  a  considerable  amount 
and  variety  of  information  regarding  the  early  years 
of  his  master,  there  are  still  certain  points  of  inquiry 
where  he  unhappily  leaves  us  in  the  lurch.  But  the 
occasions  for  complaint  are  less  numerous  than  the 
reasons  for  gratitude.  The  account  which  is  here 
given  is  based  almost  entirely  upon  the  representa- 
tions made  by  Professor  Richardson. 

Alexander  Campbell  was  born  near  Ballymena, 
County  Antrim,  Ireland,  on  the  12th  of  September, 
1788.    (Memoirs,  as  above,  vol.  i.  p.  19.)    His  father, 
Thomas  Campbell,  was  a  Seceder  minister  of  the  * 
Anti-Burgher  branch  (vol.  i.  p.  25),  and  lived  in 


52 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


quite  humble  circumstances.  After  suffering  the  ills 
of  a  probationer's  existence  for  about  ten  years,  his 
patience  was  at  length  rewarded  by  the  pastoral 
charge  of  a  new  church  at  Ahorey,  near  Armagh 
(vol.  i.  pp.  29,  30).  With  the  hope  of  eking  out  an 
insufficient  salary,  the  young  pastor  took  a  farm  near 
the  village  of  Rich  Hill,  where  he  fixed  his  residence 
(vol.  i.  p.  30).  The  farm  proving  a  failure,  he 
went  back  to  his  early  occupation  of  teaching  school 
(vol.  i.  p.  47),  removing  for  this  purpose  into  the 
village.  As  his  family  increased  in  number,  the 
individual  advantages  of  the  several  children  were  in 
a  corresponding  degree  curtailed.  Alexander  got 
what  education  he  might  at  hap-hazard  (vol.  i.  pp. 
31-35,  48)  ;  but  for  several  years,  owing  to  the  loss 
of  most  of  his  studious  inclinations,  his  powers  went 
to  waste.  At  length  his  attention  was  directed  to 
the  importance  of  cultivation,  and  he  set  about  the 
business  of  self-education  (vol.  i.  p.  76),  but  with 
no  unusual  amount  of  success.  Most  of  the  time 
was  passed  in  the  capacity  of  an  assistant  in  his 
father's  school  at  Rich  Hill,  or  in  the  performance  of 
similar  labors  at  the  school  of  one  of  his  uncles  at 
Newry  (vol.  i.  p.  88). 

The  circumstances  of  the  family  became  at  length 
so  much  straitened  that  they  began  to  turn  their  eyes 
to  the  United  States  for  "  deliverance  "  (vol.  i.  pp. 
80,  81,  86).  The  father  preceded  the  balance  of  the 
household,  setting  sail  from  Londonderry  on  the  8th 
of  April,  1807  (vol.  i.  p.  81).    In  the  course  of  time 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION. 


53 


he  was  enabled  to  provide  means  for  their  passage ; 
and  they  took  ship  to  follow  him,  on  the  1st  of 
October,  1808  (vol.  i.  p.  95).  The  funds  for  this 
purpose  were  likely  procured  by  means  of  public 
contributions  obtained  from  the  different  Presby- 
terian Churches  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  (Debate 
on  Campbellism,  between  Alexander  Campbell  and 
Obadiah  Jennings,  Pittsburg  1832,  pp.  246,  24T; 
compare  Richardson,  vol.  i.  pp.  306,  307.) 

Six  days  after  their  embarkation,  the  family  were 
wrecked  on  the  island  of  Islay  on  the  coast  of  Scot- 
land. Mrs.  Campbell,  his  mother,  being  unwilling  to 
intrust  herself  to  the  hazards  of  an  ocean  voyage  in 
the  winter  season  of  the  year,  and  Alexander  being 
naturally  desirous  to  repair  in  some  measure  the 
defects  of  his  early  education,  it  was  arranged  that 
they  should  pass  the  time  until  the  approaching 
spring  should  open  upon  them,  at  Glasgow,  where  he 
might  employ  his  leisure  in  attending  the  university. 
Meanwhile  Thomas  Campbell  was  actively  engaged 
at  his  home  in  Washington  County,  Penn.,  in  trying 
to  relieve  their  distresses,  and,  in  due  time,  to  procure 
their  transfer  to  the  country  of  his  adoption. 

Already  in  their  home  at  Rich  Hill,  Ireland,  they 
had  become  familiar  with  the  Scottish  Independents. 
A  somewhat  flourishing  Church  of  the  Glasites,  or 
Sandemanians  of  the  aspersion  observance,  existed 
there  (vol.  i.  pp.  60,  82).  Professor  Richardson 
admits  (vol.  i.  p.  59)  that  "  the  Independents  exerted 
a  most  important  influence  upon  the  religious  views 


54 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


of  both  Thomas  Campbell  and  his  son  Alexander ; " 
but  this  influence  did  not  become  apparent  during 
the  period  of  their  residence  at  Rich  Hill.  The 
former,  it  is  true,  had  much  pleasure  in  attending 
the  religious  services  of  the  Sandemanian  Church; 
but  he  was  all  the  while  in  the  full  odor  of  Seceder 
orthodoxy,  aod  it  is  not  likely  that  he  would  ever 
have  forsaken  his  own  people  but  for  the  somewhat 
extraordinary  experiences  that  he  was  now  called 
to  encounter.  Even  the  membership  he  held  in  the 
Haldanean  "Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  at 
Home  "  (vol.  i.  p.  73)  does  not  necessarily  signify  any 
lack  of  devotion  to  his  lifelong  connections  in  the 
Presbyterian  body.  Many  persons  in  various  por- 
tions of  the  country  had  yielded  to  the  eloquent  and 
impassioned  solicitations  of  James  A.  Haldane  so  far 
as  to  permit  themselves  to  be  enrolled  in  that  organi- 
zation, who  had  no  thought  or  wish  to  be  known  as 
followers  of  the  Haldanes. 

The  only  perceptible  influence  exerted  by  the 
Sandemanians  of  Rich  Hill  upon  the  Presbyterian 
pastor  of  the  place  may  be  observed  in  the  fact  that 
he  is  reported  to  have  made  an  overture  either  before 
the  Presbytery  of  Market  Hill  or  the  Synod  of  Ire- 
v  land,  "  in  favor  of  a  more  frequent  celebration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  "  (vol.  i.  p.  69)  ;  but  it  is  not  stated 
that  he  was  bold  enough  to  advocate  a  weekly  observ- 
ance. For  the  rest,  he  must  have  been  at  this  time 
almost  unaffected  by  the  ordinary  Sandemanian  con- 
siderations in  favor  of  the  "  mutual  exhortation  "  of 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION.  55 


church-members,  or  of  the  various  other  preposterous 
imitations  of  Christ  that  were  peculiar  to  the  people 
in  question.  In  brief,  Alexander  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  leader  in  the  unhappy  progress  that  was 
later  made  by  both  father  and  son  in  the  direction  of 
the  Independents. 

When  they  were  wrecked  on  the  island  of  Islay, 
one  of  the  most  influential  persons  with  whom  Alex- 
ander became  acquainted  was  Mr.  George  Fulton, 
who,  in  addition  to  his  duties  as  pedagogue  for  the 
community,  also  stood  at  the  head  of  a  Sunday  school, 
—  probably  one  of  those  which  James  A.  Haldane 
and  his  co-laborer  John  Campbell  had  established 
during  their  famous  visit  to  Greenock  and  other  com- 
munities in  the  West  of  Scotland  for  that  purpose,  in 
the  year  1797  (vol.  i.  p.  159).  He  was  at  pains 
to  visit  the  Sunday  school  of  Mr.  Fulton  (vol.  i.  p. 
108),  —  an  act  which  must  have  won  the  favorable 
regards  of  that  excellent  person,  for,  when  Alexander 
left  the  place  for  his  sojourn  in  Glasgow,  he  was  the 
bearer  of  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Fulton  to  Mr. 
Greville  Ewing  (vol.  i.  p.  114). 

His  arrival  in  Glasgow  occurred  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  3d  of  November  1808.  Although  he  had  been 
thoughtful  enough  to  procure  letters  of  introduction 
to  several  persons  in  the  city  (vol.  i.  pp.  114, 115),  it 
somehow  befell  that  the  letter  to  Mr.  Ewing  was 
the  first  which  he  was  minded  to  present  (vol.  i.  p. 
128).  It  secured  him  a  night's  lodging,  and  per- 
haps a  large  amount  of  well-deserved  sympathy. 


56 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


The  next  morning,  having  been  informed  that  he 
was  of  the  Seceder  persuasion,  Mr.  Ewing  gave  him 
a  note  to  the  Rev.  John  Mitchel  (vol.  i.  p.  128),  who, 
it  is  believed,  was  one  of  the  two  ministers  of  that 
order  in  Glasgow,  Mr.  Moutre  being  the  other. 
(Memoirs  of  Elder  Thomas  Campbell,  by  Alexander 
Campbell,  of  Bethany,  Va.,  Cincinnati  1861,  p.  117.) 
Mr.  Mitchel  was  attentive  enough  to  render  him 
some  degree  of  assistance  in  finding  lodgings,  per- 
haps in  the  house  of  one  of  his  Seceder  parishioners. 
(Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell,  vol.  i.  p.  128.) 

But  by  some  means  Alexander  seems  to  have  al- 
ready acquired  a  kind  of  distaste  for  the  Seceders. 
The  lodging  which  Mr.  Mitchel  had  procured  for  the 
family  was  speedily  concluded  to  be  incommodious, 
and  must  needs  be  replaced  by  another  of  Mr. 
E wing's  selection,  which  was  likely  in  the  home  of  one 
of  the  members  of  his  own  church  (vol.  i.  p.  130). 
This  may  appear  to  be  a  trivial  circumstance  ;  but 
when  we  are  reminded  what  an  important  effect  the 
influence  of  Ewing  produced  upon  the  fortunes  of 
the  Campbell  family,  no  transaction  that  fell  out 
between  them  can  wisely  be  overlooked.  From  this 
time  Mr.  Ewing  was  the  chief  counsellor  of  the 
household,  and  his  praises  were  on  the  tongue  of 
every  member  of  it  (vol.  i.  pp.  148,  149). 

He  was  always  ready  to  employ  his  good  offices 
in  their  service.  Through  his  courtesy  Alexander 
was  carried  about  and  introduced  to  each  of  the 
professors  of  the  university  (vol.  i.  p.  130).    It  was 


MB.  CAMPBELL'S  PEBVEBSION. 


57 


likewise,  perhaps,  by  his  assistance,  that  Alexander 
was  enabled  to  make  up  those  classes  in  the  rudi- 
mentary branches  which  he  taught  in  private  for 
the  purpose  of  improving  the  narrow  finances  of  the 
family  (vol.  i.  p.  139),  and  by  means  of  which  it 
must  have  been  rendered  nearly  impossible  that  he 
should  make  any  solid  progress  in  his  own  studies ; 
a  serious  misfortune  in  view  of  the  fact,  that,  by  reason 
of  the  sad  necessities  of  the  situation,  his  early  edu- 
cation had  been  left  incomplete.  At  every  point  the 
toils  of  the  excellent  and  plausible  Ewing  encircled 
the  ingenuous  and  inexperienced  boy.  He  was  fre- 
quently invited  to  the  house  of  Ewing  in  order  to  take 
dinner  or  tea  (vol.  i.  p.  149)  ;  before  the  winter  was 
past,  the  disciple  of  Glas  found  himself  on  a  decid- 
edly intimate  footing  with  the  son  of  the  Irish  Sececler 
pastor  (vol.  i.  pp.  148, 149).  Alexander  had  obtained 
a  great  impression  of  the  learning  and  piety  of  his 
new  friend  (vol.  i.  p.  187),  and  was  soon  as  pliable 
under  Ewing's  manipulations  as  clay  in  the  hands  of 
the  potter.  Professor  Richardson  truly  says  (vol.  i. 
p.  148),  that  his  "  stay  at  Glasgow  was  destined  to 
work  an  entire  change  in  the  views  and  feelings  of 
Alexander  in  respect  to  the  existing  denominations, 
and  to  disengage  his  sympathies  entirely  from  the 
Seceder  denomination,  and  every  other  form  of  Pres- 
byterianism."  He  is  likewise  correct  in  the  admis- 
sion that  "  the  change  seems  to  have  been  occasioned 
chiefly  through  his  intimacy  with  Greville  Ewing." 
Moreover,  Ewing  was  esteemed  "a  very  fine  lecturer, 


58 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


and  very  popular  both  as  a  man  and  as  a  preacher, 
as  was  also  Mr.  Warcllaw,  who  frequently  officiated." 
With  Mr.  Moutre,  the  pastor  of  the  Seceder  Church 
where  his  mother  and  the  family  attended  worship, 
Alexander  would  naturally  have  small  sympathy; 
and  before  the  close  of  the  winter  his  private  note- 
books exhibited  various  evidences  of  his  impatience 
(vol.  i.  p.  187). 

It  is  not  necessary  to  set  down  in  further  detail  the 
features  of  this  old  and  vulgar  story,  which  has  been 
enacted  a  thousand  times  before  and  since  in  many 
parts  of  the  earth.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  conclusion  of  it  as  recorded  by  the  biogra- 
pher of  Mr.  Campbell.  Professor  Richardson  relates, 
that  Alexander  "became  gradually  more  and  more 
favorable  to  the  principles  of  Congregationalism 
entertained  by  Mr.  Ewing,  which  secured  an  entire 
emancipation  from  the  control  of  domineering  Synods 
and  General  Assemblies,  and  which  seemed  to  him 
much  more  accordant  with  primitive  usage.  At  the 
same  time,  he  did  not  feel  himself  at  liberty  rashly 
to  abandon  the  cherished  religious  sentiments  of  his 
youth,  and  the  Seceder  Church  to  which  his  father 
and  the  family  belonged,  and  in  which  he  thought  it 
his  duty  to  be  a  regular  communicant. 

He  was  in  this  unsettled  state  of  mind  as  the 
semi-annual  communion  season  of  the  Seceders  ap- 
proached, and  his  doubts  in  regard  to  the  character 
of  such  religious  establishments  occasioned  him  no 
little  anxiety  of  mind  concerning  the  proper  course 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION. 


59 


for  him  to  pursue.  His  conscientious  misgivings  as 
to  the  propriety  of  sanctioning  any  longer,  by  parti- 
cipation, a  religious  system  which  he  disapproved ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  his  sincere  desire  to  comply 
with  all  his  religious  obligations,  —  created  a  serious 
conflict  in  his  mind,  from  which  he  found  it  impossi- 
ble to  escape.  At  the  time  of  preparation,  however, 
he  concluded  that  he  would  be  in  the  way  of  his 
duty,  at  least,  and  that  he  would  go  to  the  elders 
and  get  a  metallic  token,  which  every  one  who 
wished  to  communicate  had  to  obtain,  and  that  he 
would  use  it  or  not,  afterward,  as  was  sometimes 
done.  The  elders  asked  for  his  credentials  as  a 
member  of  the  Secession  Church ;  and  he  informed 
them  that  his  membership  was  in  the  Church  in 
Ireland,  and  that  he  had  no  letter.  They  replied 
that  in  that  case  it  would  be  necessary  for  him  to 
appear  before  the  Session  and  to  be  examined.  He 
accordingly  appeared  before  them,  and,  being  ex- 
amined, received  the  token.  The  hour  at  which  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  to  take  place  found  him  still 
undecided ;  and,  as  there  were  about  eight  hundred 
communicants,  and  some  eight  or  nine  tables  to  be 
served  in  succession,  he  concluded  to  wait  until  the 
last  table,  in  hopes  of  being  able  to  overcome  his 
scruples.  Failing  in  this,  however,  and  unable  any 
longer  to  recognize  the  Seceder  Church  as  the 
Church  of  Christ,  he  threw  his  token  upon  the  plate 
handed  round,  and,  when  the  elements  were  passed 
along  the  table,  declined  to  partake  with  the  rest. 


60 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


It  was  at  this  moment  that  the  struggle  in  his  mind 
was  completed ;  and  the  ring  of  the  token  falling 
upon  the  plate,  announced  the  instant  at  which  he 
renounced  Presbyterianisni  forever,  —  the  leaden 
voucher  becoming  thus  a  token,  not  of  communion, 
but  of  separation."  (Richardson,  Memoirs  of  Alex- 
ander Campbell,  vol.  i.  pp.  189,  190.) 

In  brief  words,  the  conquest  of  Greville  Ewing 
and  of  his  particular  type  of  Sandemanianism  was 
then  first  firmly  established.  Though  he  had  entered 
Scotland  comparatively  innocent  of  these  vagaries, 
Alexander  turned  away  from  the  country  at  the  end 
of  three  hundred  days  (vol.  i.  p.  194),  in  a  state  of 
more  or  less  abject  slavery  to  them.  With  this  view 
his  own  statement,  made  some  years  later  in  the 
pages  of  the  paper  which  he  edited  in  Virginia,  is  in 
agreement,  where  in  speaking  of  the  confirmed  dis- 
gust he  felt  against  the  "  popular  schemes  "  he  adds, 
"  which  I  confess  I  principally  imbibed  when  a  student 
at  the  University  of  Glasgow.'"  (C.B.,  edit.  6,  p.  72.) 

Let  the  fact  be  likewise  considered,  that  Alexan- 
der entered  Glasgow  on  the  3d  of  November,  1808, 
which  left  a  period  of  not  quite  seven  full  months 
since  the  time  when  James  A.  Haldane  had  given 
such  dire  offence  to  Ewing  and  Wardlaw  and  the 
men  of  that  faction,  by  submitting  to  the  rite  of 
immersion  without  waiting  for  their  initiative.  The 
circles  in  which  he  was  received  were  by  conse- 
v  quence  very  full  of  opposition  to  the  course  of  the 
Haldanes  in  drawing  near  to  the  immersed  wing  of 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION. 


61 


the  Sandemanian  fraternity.  It  is  likely  that  Mr. 
Ewing  and  the  church  over  which  he  presided  had 
already  taken  the  remarkable  step  by  which  they 
"  refused  to  have  visible  communion  with  those  who 
adhered  to  the  Haldanes  "  (vol.  i.  p.  181).  Alex- 
ander was,  therefore,  in  no  situation  to  hear  the 
Haldane  side  of  the  controversy,  and  in  no  state  of 
mind  to  do  the  Haldanes  justice  in  case  he  had  been 
permitted  to  hear  it. 

Accordingly  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  he  should 
be  inclined  to  favor  the  cause  of  the  Sandemanians 
of  the  aspersion  observance ;  and  there  is  no  good 
reason  why  Professor  Richardson  should  find  it 
somewhat  singular,  that  during  his  residence  in  Glas- 
gow none  of  the  questions  connected  with  infant- 
baptism  and  immersion  engaged  Mr.  Campbell's 
attention  in  the  least  (vol.  i.  pp.  186,  187).  Ewing 
and  his  co-adjutor  Wardlaw  were  both  of  them  at 
the  moment  vehemently  exercising  themselves  in 
opposition  to  immersion  and  to  the  baptism  of 
adults  only  (vol.  i.  p.  187).  Alexander  could  have 
heard  scarcely  any  thing  else  than  arguments  in 
favor  of  infant-baptism  and  aspersion,  at  such  times 
as  he  was  admitted  to  a  place  at  their  tables.  These 
disquisitions  would  naturally  fall  in  with  his  pre- 
vious convictions  regarding  those  topics.  He  had 
not  yet  enjoyed  an  occasion  to  become  intimately 
acquainted  with  the  immersion  wing  of  the  Sande- 
manian body. 


62 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CUBIST. 


CHAPTER  VTL 

me.  Campbell's  eaeliest  success  as  a 
propagandist. 

Peofessoe  Richardson  has,  unhappily,  left  in  a 
state  of  incompleteness  that  portion  of  his  volumes 
which  relates  to  the  perversion  to  Sandemanian  views 
of  Thomas  Campbell,  the  father  of  Alexander.  It  is 
very  natural  that  he  should  be  inclined  to  do  as  much 
honor  as  possible  to  the  father  of  his  hero ;  but  in 
accomplishing  this  purpose  he  is  suspected  to  have 
been,  in  some  degree,  unfaithful  to  the  facts  of 
history. 

His  readers  must  present  their  acknowledgments 
to  the  excellent  author  for  the  care  he  has  often 
exhibited  in  permitting  his  characters  to  address  the 
public  in  their  own  persons.  Alexander  Campbell 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  that  kind  of  men  who 
✓  rarely  ever  lose  a  letter,  whether  the  same  were  re- 
ceived or  sent  by  him.  Much  of  his  early  epistolary 
correspondence  was  strictly  copied  down  in  note- 
books that  he  kept  for  the  purpose  of  preserving 
documents  that  were  of  any  sort  of  interest.  A  libe- 
ral share  of  the  letters  which  passed  between  himself 
and  his  father,  Thomas  Campbell,  have  been  repro- 


MR.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  63 


duced  in  the  pages  of  the  biographer  ;  but,  singularly 
enough,  not  one  of  those  is  published  which  belongs 
to  the  time  of  Alexander's  sojourn  in  Glasgow.  This 
defect  is  to  be  regretted,  since,  if  it  were  supplied, 
some  light  might  fall  from  that  source  on  the  course 
of  Thomas  Campbell's  proceedings  during  the  same 
season  in  Pennsylvania. 

In  the  narrative  of  Professor  Richardson  it  is 
represented  that  Thomas  Campbell  had  reached  a 
position  substantially  like  that  to  which  Greville 
Ewing  had  brought  his  son,  by  means  of  his  own 
private  reflections  and  experiences,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  communications  that  he  might  have  received 
from  Alexander  while  the  latter  was  detained  in  Glas- 
gow (Memoirs,  vol.  i.  p.  220)  ;  but  this  conclusion  is, 
for  several  reasons,  inadmissible.  Every  thing,  for  ex- 
ample, that  is  reported  of  Thomas  Campbell,  whether 
in  the  volume  which  contains  his  own  Memoirs 
(Memoirs  of  Elder  Thomas  Campbell,  by  Alexander 
Campbell  of  Bethany,  Va.,  Cincinnati,  1861),  or 
in  the  biography  which  Professor  Richardson  has 
supplied  of  his  son  Alexander,  goes  to  show  that  he 
was  a  timid,  inefficient  person.  There  are  no  certain 
proofs  that  he  was  capable  of  independent  thought  or 
action,  either  at  this  or  an}^  other  period  of  his  life. 
The  facts  and  instances  which  might  serve  to  estab- 
lish the  propriety  of  this  judgment  regarding  him  are 
too  numerous  and  circumstantial  to  be  repeated  here, 
but  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  supply  them  on 
demand. 


64 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


Moreover,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Thomas 
Campbell,  in  Pennsylvania,  was  kept  in  ignorance  of 
the  experiences  of  his  family  in  Glasgow,  nor  of  the 
kindness  of  Greville  Ewing  towards  them,  especially 
as  every  member  of  the  household  was  glad  to  ac- 
knowledge the  extent  of  their  obligations  to  him. 
(Memoirs  of  Alexander  Campbell,  vol.  i.  p.  149.) 
The  heart  of  the  good  and  weak  man  would  naturally 
be  moved  with  gratitude  towards  the  distant  bene- 
factor, and  there  would  be  no  just  bounds  to  his 
admiration  for  the  greatness  and  power  and  conde- 
scension of  the  noble  Sandemanian.  Comparisons 
would  easily  be  drawn  between  the  kindness  and 
attentions  of  Mr.  Ewing,  and  the  relative  coldness 
and  neglect  of  the  Seceder  minister,  Mr.  Moutre ;  and 
there  would  be  no  very  careful  reflections  upon  the 
circumstance  that  the  distant  bearing  of  his  ministe- 
rial colleague  might  be  due  to  the  passion  which  his 
own  loved  ones  had  conceived  for  a  disagreeable  rival. 

Again,  it  is  entirely  possible  that  Alexander  was 
not  slow  to  communicate  the  points  of  that  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  Mr.  Ewing's  previous  religious 
history  which  he  had  been  enabled  to  acquire  in  the 
progress  of  his  exceptionally  friendly  intercourse  with 
him  (vol.  i.  p.  149).  By  means  of  this  kind,  Thomas 
Campbell,  who,  perhaps,  was  already  in  subjection  to 
the  imperious  will  of  his  son,  would  be  placed  in 
possession  of  several  items  of  news  that  were  highly 
acceptable  to  a  husband  and  father  in  his  own  unfor- 
tunate situation. 


ME.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  65 


By  degrees,  as  Alexander  found  himself  "grad- 
ually becoming  more  and  more  favorable  to  the 
principles  of  Congregationalism  entertained  by  Mr. 
Ewing"  (vol.  i.  p.  189),  various  considerations  in 
support  of  these  would  be  included  in  his  epistolary 
communications  with  his  absent  parent.  These  sug- 
gestions would  each  of  them  fall  upon  a  mind  and 
heart  which  had  been  prepared  to  receive  them  with 
cordiality.  The  father,  in  his  rather  exceptional 
weakness  of  character,  would  perceive  that  himself 
also  sympathized  with  Alexander's  distaste  for  the 
people  among  whom  he  was  brought  up,  and 
witli  whom  his  fortunes  had  been  the  reverse  of 
nourishing. 

Under  circumstances  of  this  kind,  it  is  not  a 
matter  of  surprise,  —  it  is  only  what  might  be  rea- 
sonably anticipated,  —  that  Thomas  Campbell  should 
become  involved  in  a  controversy  with  the  Seceders 
of  the  vicinity  where  he  kept  his  residence.  In  the 
spring  of  the  year  1809,  while  his  family  were  still 
in  Glasgow,  a  libel  was  laid  against  him  in  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Chartiers,  "  containing  various  formal  and 
specified  charges,  the  chief  of  which  were,  that  he 
had  failed  to  inculcate  strict  adherence  to  the  Church 
standard  and  usages,  and  had  even  expressed  his  dis- 
approval of  some  things  in  said  standard,  and  of  the 
uses  made  of  them  "  (vol.  i.  p.  225).  The  case  was 
appealed  to  the  Associate  Synod  of  North  America, 
which  convened  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1809.  From 
the  letter  of  protest  that  was  addressed  by  Mr.  Camp- 


66 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


bell  at  the  time  to  this  body  (Memoirs  of  Thomas 
,Campbell,  by  Alexander  Campbell,  pp.  12-15),  it 
may  be  gathered  that  the  objections  urged  against 
him  related  to  the  usual  Sandemanian  scruples  con- 
cerning the  impropriety  of  any  human  standards  of 
belief,  and  to  his  advocacy  of  the  customary  Sande- 
manian position  that  the  Scriptures  are  the  only 
admissible  standard,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  kinds  of 
creeds  and  confessions  of  faith.  Here  was  the 
earliest,  if  not  the  most  brilliant,  conquest  which 
Alexander  was  enabled  to  make  on  behalf  of  San- 
demanianism. 

It  is  possible  that  the  troubles  which  arose  in 
the  Presbytery  of  Chartiers  were  duly  reported  to  the 
family,  who  were  then  abiding  in  Glasgow.  Tidings 
of  these  occurrences  may  have  reached  their  ears 
before  the  communion  season  already  mentioned,  at 
which  Alexander  was  successful  in  making  up  his 
mind  no  longer  to  recognize  the  Seceder  Church  as 
the  Church  of  Christ  (vol.  i.  p.  190).  Although 
his  case  was  pending  before  the  Synod,  Mr.  Camp- 
bell did  not  leave  off  proclaiming  the  Sandemanian 
notions  which  had  just  met  with  decided  opposition 
in  the  Presbytery.  The  churches  of  his  Seceder 
brethren,  it  would  appear,  were  promptly  closed 
against  his  access ;  but  he  found  accommodation  for 
the  people  who  were  disposed  to  give  heed  to  him, 
in  the  private  houses  of  various  persons  who  might 
be  inclined  to  show  him  that  favor  (vol.  i.  p.  231). 
In  this  labor  of  making  propaganda  for  his  new 


MB.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  67 


principles,  he  received  especial  support  from  certain 
members  of  the  Sandemanian  Church  in  Rich  Hill, 
Ireland,  who  had  emigrated  to  America  but  a  fort- 
night after  he  himself  had  come  over  (vol.  i.  pp. 
81-83).  Regarding  one  of  these,  who  was  the  pre- 
centor of  the  Church,  Professor  Richardson  truly 
says  (vol.  i.  p.  82),  "  This  James  Foster  was  destined 
to  take  no  unimportant  part  in  Thomas  Campbell's 
future  religious  movements."  In  fact,  he  was  the 
faithful  and  efficient  ally  of  Alexander  in  the 
efforts  he  made  to  draw  his  father  away  from  his 
former  allegiance  to  Presbyterian  doctrines  and 
polity. 

Before  the  summer  of  1809  was  half  closed,  Thomas 
Campbell  was  engaged  in  meditating  a  scheme  by 
which  it  might  be  in  his  power  to  put  his  new-found 
notions  into  practice.  He  proposed  to  his  followers 
the  propriety  of  holding  a  meeting  for  the  purpose 
of  imparting  greater  definiteness  to  the  movement 
in  which  they  were  embarked.  Perhaps  it  was 
some  time  during  the  month  of  May  or  June  that 
one  such  was  appointed  at  the  house  of  Abraham 
Altars,  one  of  his  more  subservient  adherents  (vol.  i. 
p.  231). 

When  that  meeting  had  been  duly  convened  and 
addressed,  Mr.  Campbell  proposed,  as  a  basis  for 
all  further  action,  the  motto  :  "  Where  the  Scriptures 
speak,  we  speak  ;  where  they  are  silent,  we  are  silent." 
Here  was,  beyond  dispute,  an  excellent  ideal ;  but, 
in  point  of  fact,  it  could  hardly  ever  amount  to  any 


68 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


thing  more  than  an  ideal.  Neither  Thomas  Campbell, 
nor  Alexander,  nor  any  of  their  supporters  has  ever 
possessed  wit  enough  to  give  effect  to  it  by  mak- 
ing out  just  where  the  Scriptures  do  speak.  Great 
abuses  once  prevailed  among  them  in  that  regard, 
which  Alexander  attempted  to  regulate  by  composing 
and  publishing  a  fourth-rate  treatise  on  the  subject 
of  Biblical  Interpretation.  Nothing  was  clearer  than 
that  the  Campbells  were  hopeless  failures  in  the  de- 
partment of  exegesis,  as  most  of  their  people  have 
been ;  at  any  rate,  they  could  lay  no  sort  of  claim  to 
infallibility.  Consequently  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  apply  their  watchword  to  any  advantage.  What 
is  the  profit  of  professing  to  speak  where  the  Scrip- 
tures speak,  without  more  power  than  these  gentle- 
men had  to  determine  where  the  Scriptures  speak  or 
where  they  are  silent  ? 

However,  the  above  motto  was  a  neat  and  popu- 
lar expression  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  Mr. 
Greville  Ewing.  (Facts  and  Documents,  pp.  124, 
130.)  It  is  likewise  nothing  more  than  is  professed 
in  fact,  if  not  in  form,  by  every  sect  of  religious 
worshippers  in  Christendom.  Mr.  Ewing  and  Mr. 
Haldane  had  both  adhered  to  this  motto  with  all  the 
skill  and  devotion  they  could  command,  but  with  the 
sad  result  of  perceiving,  that,  instead  of  the  excellent 
Christian  union  which  they  so  ardently  desired,  they 
were  daily  drifting  farther  apart.  Ewing  even  felt 
himself  constrained  to  deny  any  visible  fellowship 
with  the  sometime  friend  and  associate  to  whom  he 


MR.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  69 

was  under  the  deepest  obligations  for  kindness  be- 
stowed. Nevertheless,  he  had  not  lost  any  portion 
of  his  faith  in  this  watchword,  believing  that  there 
was  virtue  in  it  to  charm  every  discord  that  might 
arise  in  the  Christian  world.  It  is  likely,  that,  in  the 
mouth  of  Thomas  Campbell,  it  signified  nothing  more 
important  than,  "  Where  Mr.  Ewing  speaks,  we  speak ; 
and  where  he  is  silent,  we  are  silent." 

Whether  the  father  or  the  son  should  be  awarded 
the  credit  of  imparting  this  taking  expression  to  the 
leading  principle  of  Ewing,  is  an  inquiry  that  may 
not  be  easily  determined.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the 
first  meeting  and  its  incidents  were  duly  and  minutely 
reported  to  Alexander  beyond  the  seas ;  he  may  have 
had  knowledge  of  the  whole  business  before  he  set 
sail  for  America  on  the  3d  of  August  1809.  The 
chief  result  of  this  preliminary  meeting  was  not 
enacted  until  the  17th  of  August,  when  Alexander 
was  already  on  the  high  seas.  On  that  date  was 
formed  "  The  Christian  Association  of  Washington," 
which  appears  to  have  been  modelled  in  several  re- 
spects after  the  pattern  of  the  Haldanean  "  Society 
for  Propagating  the  Gospel  at  Home,"  of  which 
Thomas  Campbell  was  a  member  during  his  residence 
in  Ireland. 

The  first  act  of  this  Association  was  to  issue  a 
"  Declaration  and  Address,"  the  proofs  of  which  were 
just  coming  from  the  press  when  Alexander  arrived 
with  the  family  at  Washington,  Penn.,  on  the  28th 
of  October  1809  (vol.  i.  p.  246).    This  document 


70 


THE  DISCIPLES  OE  CHRIST. 


embraced  a  number  of  considerations  in  elucidation 
and  advocacy  of  the  principle  that  the  Scriptures 
are  in  themselves  a  sufficient  guide  without  the  aid 
of  any  confession  of  faith  or  other  kind  of  standard. 
It  confined  itself  to  somewhat  narrow  limits  and 
general  statements,  its  author  not  venturing  to  step 
beyond  the  boundaries  winch  had  been  set  for  him 
in  Scotland,  through  the  example  of  Mr.  Ewing,  and 
possibly  through  the  dictation  of  Alexander. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1S09.  his  letter  of  pro- 
test against  the  censure  of  the  Presbytery  of  Char- 
tiers  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Associate 
Synod  of  North  America,  and  along  with  it  a  copy 
of  the  M  Declaration  and  Address  "  which  in  the  in- 
terval had  been  published  (vol.  i.  p.  228).  The 
'  Synod  were  kindly  disposed  towards  him,  and,  re- 
versing the  action  of  the  Presbytery,  directed  that 
he  should  be  released  from  censure.  At  this  point 
the  narrative  of  Professor  Richardson  is  confused  and 
indefinite,  but  it  suffices  to  indicate  (vol.  i.  p.  229) 
that  the  Presbytery  were  not  content  with  the  ruling 
of  the  Synod ;  and  at  their  next  session,  perhaps  in 
the  spring  of  1S10,  instead  of  dismissing  the  censure 
they  renewed  it,  and  referred  the  case  back  to  the 
Synod.  Thomas  Campbell,  conscious  perhaps  that 
his  course  was  reprehensible,  and  for  the  moment 
unwilling  to  be  debarred  from  religious  communion, 
submitted  to  receive  this  second  censure.  However, 
instead  of  quitting  his  schismatical  practices  as  the 
Presbytery  now  had  a  right  to  expect  he  would  do, 


MR.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  71 


he  persevered  in  them.  Justly  offended  by  his  con- 
duct, which  they  perhaps  interpreted  as  a  breach 
of  faith,  the  Presbytery  placed  his  movements  under 
strict  surveillance,  with  a  view  to  their  own  protec- 
tion, and  in  order  to  establish  by  undeniable  proofs 
the  correctness  of  their  judgment  against  him  when 
the  Synod  should  again  bring  forward  the  case  for 
review  and  decision.  In  this  latter  respect  they  were 
so  far  successful  that  the  defendant  himself  must 
have  become  aware  that  it  would  be  useless  to 
continue  the  litigation.  Accordingly,  before  the 
Synod  met  to  consider  the  questions  involved,  Mr. 
Campbell  found  it  prudent  to  hand  in  a  formal  re- 
nunciation of  its  authority,  in  which  he  declared 
that  he  should  henceforth  hold  himself  "utterly 
unaffected  by  its  decisions  "  (vol.  i.  p.  230).  These 
occurrences  are  supposed  to  belong  to  the  autumn 
of  the  year  1810. 

About  the  same  time  that  he  was  engaged  in 
declaring  his  independence  of  the  Seceders,  Thomas 
Campbell  is  found  presenting  an  overture  to  the  reg- 
ular Presbyterians  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburg,  pray- 
ing for  the  reception  of  the  "  Christian  Association 
of  Washington  "  into  their  communion.  That  body 
heard  him  with  respect  while  he  unfolded  the  beauties 
of  Mr.  Ewing's  principle,  and  then  coolly  dismissed 
him  (vol.  i.  pp.  327,  328).  After  this  rebuff  it 
was  soon  decided  by  the  Campbells  to  organize  a 
church  of  their  own,  a  task  which  was  accomplished 
at  the  regular  semi-annual  meeting  of  the  Associa- 


72 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


tion,  on  the  2d  of  May,  1811  (vol.  i.  pp.  366-368). 
This  church  was  organized  as  nearly  as  might 
be  after  the  fashion  of  the  one  over  which  Greville 
Ewing  presided  in  Glasgow  (vol.  i.  p.  349).  It 
had  weekly  communion  (vol.  i.  p.  373)  ;  it  main- 
tained the  biblical  propriety  of  the  independent  form 
of  church  government  (vol.  i.  pp.  345,  346,  and  p. 
349) ;  it  favored  lay  preaching  in  the  same  way 
Ewing  did  (vol.  i.  p.  346)  ;  it  did  not  adopt  the 
notion  of  a  plurality  of  elders,  which  Ewing  also 
now  rejected  ;  and  was  content  with  choosing 
Thomas  Campbell  as  elder,  although  Alexander  was 
licensed  to  preach  (vol.  i.  p.  367).  Like  Mr.  Ewing, 
both  the  Campbells  were  still  in  favor  of  infant- 
baptism. 

Nevertheless,  out  of  regard  for  James  Foster,  the 
precentor  of  the  Sandemanian  Church  in  Rich  Hill, 
who  had  refused  even  in  Ireland  to  have  his  children 
baptized  (vol.  i.  p.  82),  they  were  prevented  from 
taking  as  definite  grounds  on  that  subject  as  their 
Scottish  master  was  in  the  custom  of  assuming. 
Thomas  Campbell,  it  would  appear,  strove  hard  to 
keep  in  the  steps  of  Ewing  in  this  quarter ;  but  it 
was,  perhaps,  impossible  for  him  to  manage  Foster. 
The  Sandemanian  precentor  was  highly  scrupulous, 
and  labored  much  to  bring  his  friend  over  to  his  own 
way  of  thinking  (vol.  i.  p.  240).  Under  these 
circumstances  there  was  no  other  resource  than  to 
make  infant-baptism  a  matter  of  forbearance  (vol. 
i.  pp.  325  and  345).    Considering  the  altered  cir- 


JlfR.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  73 


cumstances,  this  was  keeping  quite  well  in  the  track 
that  had  been  marked  out  for  them.  "Mutual 
exhortation  "  also  cut  no  figure  at  this  moment  in  the 
Brush  Run  Church ;  Mr.  Ewing,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, had  become  disgusted  with  that  item  of  "  the 
ancient  order  of  things  "  before  Alexander's  arrival 
in  Glasgow,  and  was  even  charged  by  the  Haldanes 
with  turning  against  it.  (Facts  and  Documents,  p. 
126ff.)  Alexander  was  always  unfavorable  to  it 
(vol.  ii.  p.  128),  and  opposed  his  influence  when  it 
was  later  introduced  at  Brush  Run.  Alexander  must 
have  frequently  heard  of  the  theological  classes  which 
Ewing  was  intrusted  to  teach  during  the  first  two 
years  of  his  residence  in  Glasgow.  The  suggestion 
was  not  lost  upon  him.  As  early  as  he  could  after 
his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania,  steps  were  taken  to 
organize  a  similar  class.  Its  first,  and,  so  far  as 
reported,  its  only  students,  were  James  Foster  and 
Abraham  Altars  (vol.  i.  pp.  277-279). 

There  was  one  single  point,  however,  in  which  he 
had  not  yet  learned  to  speak  with  Ewing.  Whether 
that  failure  is  due  to  the  multitude  of  cares  which 
must  have  beset  him  as  the  head  of  the  family  in 
Glasgow,  robbing  him  of  most  of  the  leisure  which 
otherwise  he  might  have  devoted  to  his  studies ;  or 
whether  he  had  a  keener  appreciation  of  matters  re- 
lating to  the  "  ancient  order  "  than  of  such  as  related 
to  the  "  ancient  gospel ;  "  or  whether,  in  the  third 
instance,  he  experienced  a  difficulty  in  the  prospect 
of  surrendering  the  view  which  he  had  always  held 


74 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


concerning  the  nature  of  saving  faith,  —  must  remain, 
for  the  present,  a  theme  of  conjecture.  But,  whatever 
should  be  the  right  explanation  of  the  phenomenon, 
Alexander  rejected,  for  a  while,  the  conceit  of  Ewing 
and  the  Sandemanians,  that  faith  is  nothing  other 
than  mere  belief,  which  is  produced  by  testimony 
alone,  without  reference  to  the  regenerating  grace 
of  God.  On  the  7th  of  April  1811,  about  twenty 
months  after  he  had  left  behind  him  the  advantages 
of  the  personal  tutelage  of  his  master,  he  is  still 
found  holding  fast  to  the  orthodox  Seceder  convic- 
tions regarding  this  subject  (vol.  i.  p.  376). 

But  the  period  was  near  at  hand  when  he  should 
accede  to  the  notion  of  his  master  touching  this  point 
also,  and,  at  the  same  time,  go  beyond  him  in  other 
respects.  The  7th  of  April  1811,  is  the  latest  date 
on  which,  according  to  the  representations  of  his 
biographer,  he  was  willing  to  affirm  that  faith  "is  of 
the  operation  of  God,  and  an  effect  of  almighty 
power  and  regenerating  grace''' 

The  Brush  Run  Church  which  Alexander  had  suc- 
ceeded in  organizing  out  of  the  material  that  com- 
posed the  "  Christian  Association  of  Washington," 
including  his  own,  embraced  the  names  of  twenty- 
eight  persons  (vol.  i.  p.  373).  These  were  the  first- 
fruits  of  his  labors  on  behalf  of  the  Sandemanian 
cause.  He  was  untiring  in  his  exertions,  both  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  residence  and  elsewhere.  On 
the  16th  of  May,  1811,  he  undertook  his  first  mission- 
ary journey,  which  carried  him  into  the  State  of  Ohio, 


ME.  CAMPBELL  AS  A  PROPAGANDIST.  75 


and  gave  him  a  store  of  experience,  but  a  very  slight 
measure  of  success  (vol.  i.  pp.  370,  371).  In  August 
he  again  went  forth,  and  was  employed  most  of  the 
time  until  the  close  of  the  year ;  but  the  people  were 
nowhere  inclined  to  favor  the  innovations  which  he  v 
had  borrowed  from  Scotland  (vol.  i.  p.  379). 


76 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
mr.  Campbell's  perversion  to  sandemanianism. 
(Second  Stage.*) 

Already  in  boyhood,  during  his  residence  in  Ire- 
land, Alexander  had  become  aware  of  the  existence 
and  the  tenets  of  the  Sandemanians  of  the  immersion 
observance.  His  biographer  is  careful  to  note  the 
fact  that  before  the  family  departed  from  Rich  Hill, 
he  had  "  been  much  pleased  with  the  works  of  Arch- 
ibald M'Lean,  especially  his  work  on  4  The  Commis- 
sion,' of  which  he  was  wont  ever  after  to  speak  in 
the  highest  terms  "  (vol.  i.  p.  71).  This  inci- 
dent is  of  importance  to  the  student  of  his  life  and 
changes. 

The  Brush  Run  Church  does  not  appear  to  have 
enjoyed  a  great  degree  of  harmony  of  conviction  in 
its  efforts  to  "unite  on  the  Bible."  On  the  third 
day  after  its  organization,  a  question  was  raised  that 
must  have  given  the  members  an  amount  of  solici- 
tude. When  the  Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated  for 
the  first  time  on  Sunday,  the  4th  of  May  1811,  it 
was  remarked  that  three  of  the  members  —  Joseph 
Bryant,  Margaret  Fullerton,  and  Abraham  Altars  — 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION. 


77 


refrained  from  the  elements.  Upon  inquiry  made 
for  the  reasons  which  might  influence  them  to  pursue 
this  course,  it  was  discovered  that  neither  of  them 
had  ever  been  baptized  after  any  of  the  various  modes 
in  which  that  ordinance  is  administered  among  Chris- 
tian communities  (vol.  i.  pp.  371,  372). 

The  difficulty  would  have  been  of  easy  adjustment 
if  these  parties  had  been  willing  to  accept  baptism 
by  affusion.  In  that  instance  there  would  have  been 
no  kind  of  obstacle  in  the  way  of  Thomas  Camp- 
bell's speaking  where  Mr.  Ewing  spoke.  But  they 
were  unhappily  decided  in  their  conviction  that  the 
"  ancient  order  of  things  "  provided  for  baptism  by 
immersion.  Joseph  Bryant  would  likewise  appear  to 
have  taken  the  lead  in  making  the  demand  for  this 
foim  of  the  ordinance  (vol.  i.  p.  372),  and  he  was  a 
person  whom  it  was  exceedingly  desirable  to  concili- 
ate. Besides  the  fact  that  he  had  rendered  most 
efficient  service  in  erecting  the  house  of  worship  at 
Brush  Run  (vol.  i.  p.  322),  it  may  also  be  mentioned 
that  he  had  been  an  attentive  member  of  "The 
Christian  Association,"  and  perhaps  already  was  rec- 
ognized as  an  eligible  match  for  Miss  Dorothea 
Campbell,  to  whom  he  was  united  in  marriage  about 
twenty  months  later,  on  the  13th  of  January  1813 
(vol.  i.  p.  458).  It  was,  therefore,  very  trying  to 
resist  Mr.  Bryant's  conscientious  scruples  and  his 
earnest  solicitations. 

On  the  other  hand,  Thomas  Campbell  was  loath  to 
depart  from  the  platform  of  Greville  Ewing     A  dis- 


78 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST, 


cussion  of  two  months'  duration  was  carried  on,  at 
the  end  of  which  Bryant  was  successful.  Mr. 
Campbell  immersed  him  and  Iris  two  friends  on  the 
4th  of  July  1811  (vol.  i.  p.  372).  But  this  con- 
cession to  the  wishes  of  a  few  did  not  mend  the 
condition  of  affairs ;  it  only  whetted  the  appetite  for 
other  changes.  James  Foster,  the  Sandemanian  pre- 
centor, who  witnessed  it,  was  not  edified  by  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  ceremony  was  performed.  Instead 
of  entering  the  water  along  with  the  subjects,  the 
administrator  stood  on  the  root  of  a  tree  at  the  side 
of  the  pool,  bending  down  their  heads  until  they  had 
been  covered  by  the  water.  Furthermore,  in  order 
to  signify  the  position  which  he  had  now  brought 
himself  to  occupy,  Foster  expressed  the  opinion  that 
it  was  incongruous  for  one  who  had  not  been  bap- 
tized in  his  own  person,  to  administer  the  rite  to  other 
people  (vol.  i.  p.  373).  Manifestly  it  was  becom- 
ing daily  more  impracticable  for  the  Campbells  to 
walk  in  E wing's  way.  They  must  either  leave  it,  or 
submit  to  witness  the  Church  which  they  had  estab- 
lished at  Brush  Run  go  to  pieces.  An  earnest  dis- 
cussion had  been  some  time  going  forward  on  the 
subject  of  immersion  (vol.  i.  p.  393),  and  it  was  not 
a  great  while  before  "  many  of  those  connected  with 
Thomas  Campbell  had  advanced  beyond  him." 
They  were  restrained  from  carrying  out  their  convic- 
tions, and  submitting  to  this  form  of  the  rite,  by 
nothing  else  than  "  the  respect  which  they  felt  was 
due  to  his  position  "  (vol.  i.  pp.  399,  400). 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION. 


79 


Alexander  seems  now  to  have  perceived  that 
speedy  action  must  be  had,  else  their  cause  was 
lost.  He  therefore  resolved  to  take  the  step  which 
it  was  becoming  evident  the  larger  portion  of  the 
Church  demanded  at  the  hands  of  himself  and  his 
father.  Accordingly  he  made  preparations  to  pro- 
cure his  own  immersion  (vol.  i.  p.  395).  When 
he  went  to  communicate  his  intention  to  his  father, 
an  ally  was  found  in  the  house  in  the  person  of  his 
sister  Dorothea  (vol.  i.  p.  395).  Naturally  con- 
cerned to  avoid  an  explosion  in  the  Church,  by 
means  of  which  she  might  be  required  to  decide 
between  the  affection  she  bore  her  parents,  and  her 
affection  for  the  man  to  whom  she  was,  perhaps, 
already  betrothed,  she  had  become,  like  Mr.  Bryant, 
a  decided  advocate  of  immersion.  If  Bryant,  and 
the  majority  of  the  little  community  at  Brush  Run, 
could  have  been  induced  to  tolerate  aspersion,  it  is 
probable  that  the  Campbells  would  never  have  found 
it  convenient  to  leave  the  side  of  the  sprinkling 
Sandemanians. 

But  affairs  had  taken  a  direction  which  it  was  not 
in  their  power  to  control,  and  they  were  compelled 
to  follow  the  current.  Alexander's  previous  acquaint- 
ance with  the  treatise  of  Archibald  M'Lean  on  "  The 
Commission  of  Christ "  must  have  now  done  him  a 
service,  giving  him  a  rudder  by  which  to  steer  his 
course.  The  father,  then  as  always  pliant  before 
the  stronger  will  of  his  son,  was  not  disposed  to 
offer  any  serious  objections,  and  at  the  last  moment 


80 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


decided  to  be  immersed  himself  (vol.  i.  p.  376). 
The  event  occurred  on  the  12th  of  June  1812 ;  the 
rite  being  performed  by  a  Baptist  minister  of  the 
Redstone  Association,  named  Matthias  Luce.  Four 
days  afterwards,  thirteen  other  members  of  the 
Church  were  immersed  by  Thomas  Campbell.  The 
remainder,  who  would  not  accede  to  the  new  change, 
went  their  way,  leaving  behind  them  a  Church  of 
twenty  members  who  were  united  in  approbation 
of  the  course  that  had  been  pursued,  and  whose 
clamors  perhaps  had  made  it  necessary.  James 
Foster  was  one  of  the  thirteen  (vol.  i.  p.  403). 

A  circumstance  of  personal  concern  to  Alexander 
also  had  a  certain  share  in  the  business  of  directing 
his  attention  to  these  issues.  On  the  13th  of  March 
1812,  his  first  child  was  born.  The  question  of  in- 
fant-baptism, therefore,  became  to  him  a  topic  of 
special  interest.  Doubtless  with  reference  to  the 
scruples  of  James  Foster,  he  had  formerly  urged 
that  this  point  should  be  treated  as  a  matter  of  for- 
bearance (vol.  i.  p.  392).  That  was  the  utmost 
limit  to  which  he  might  safely  advance  if  he  desired 
to  retain  the  sympathy  and  support  of  so  important 
a  personage.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  had  even 
ventured  as  far  as  that  since  the  5th  of  June  1811, 
possibly  abstaining  through  fear  of  provoking  an 
♦undesirable  conflict.  If  now  he  had  dared  to  baptize 
his  own  child,  after  its  birth  in  March  1812,  he  must 
have  done  so  with  the  conviction  that  the  act  would 
cost  him  the  affections  and  the  countenance  of  most 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION.  81 


of  the  communicants  at  Brush  Run.    At  any  rate, 
he  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  provoke  the 
Church  in  that  way;  and,  contrary  to  the  position 
of  Greville  Ewing,  his  child  was  compelled  to  dis-  v 
pense  with  baptism. 

The  winter  of  1811-12  was  in  other  directions 
an  eventful  one  for  the  Brush  Run  Church.  Fore- 
seeing that  he  would  be  constrained  by  the  force 
of  circumstances  to  take  final  leave  of  Mr.  Ewing, 
Alexander  began  to  take  further  lessons  in  the  "  an- 
cient order."  Before  the  first  day  of  January  1812, 
he  had  become  convinced  of  the  propriety  of  main-  v 
taming  a  plurality  of  elders  in  every  church  (vol.  i. 
p.  385) ;  and  on  that  day  he  was  ordained,  possibly 
in  order  that  the  Church  might  be  provided  with  a 
Presbytery  after  the  Sandemanian  model.  On  the 
occasion  of  Thomas  Campbell's  removal  from  the 
vicinity,  in  the  year  1813,  James  Foster  was  or- 
dained in  his  place,  that  the  Presbytery  might  not 
be  destroyed  by  his  absence  (vol.  i.  pp.  458,  459). 
Plurality  of  elders  had  now,  to  all  appearances, 
become  the  article  of  a  standing  or  falling  Church. 

While  yet  a  resident  of  Rich  Hill,  Alexander  had 
been  made  personally  acquainted  with  one  John  v 
Walker,  a  learned  and  unfortunate  gentleman  whose 
literalism  had  rendered  him  one  of  the  most  fantastic 
of  all  the  Sandemanians  (vol.  i.  p.  61).  He  was  so 
far  gone  in  the  "ancient  order"  that  he  "sold  his 
carriage  and  travelled  on  foot  through  Ireland,  and 
also  through  England,"  proclaming  the  virtues  of  an 


82 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


exact  conformity  to  the  minutest  details  of  it  (vol. 
i.  p.  61).  During  the  season  here  under  review,  Alex- 
ander seems  to  have  returned  to  his  youthful  admira- 
tion for  this  exceedingly  queer  head.  He  attentively 
perused  his  writings,  and  to  a  degree  made  him  the 
man  of  his  counsel  (vol.  i.  p.  466).  It  was  from 
Walker,  perhaps,  that  he  obtained  the  singular  notion 
about  religious  communion,  which  on  the  26th  of 
February  1812,  caused  him  to  question  the  propriety 
of  family  prayer  wherever  the  family  might  be  com- 
posed in  part  of  unbelievers  (vol.  i.  pp.  447-449 ;  cf. 
p.  61).  As  has  been  already  shown,  numbers  of  the 
Scottish  Sandemanians  refused  to  maintain  family 
prayer ;  but  these  generally  referred  their  objections 
to  a  literalistic  interpretation  of  the  injunction  which 
ordains  that  men  shall  enter  into  their  closets  alone, 
and  there  address  the  heavenly  Father  in  secret. 
They  likewise  made  much  of  the  fact  that  there  is 
no  distinct  biblical  command  enjoining  in  so  many 
words  the  duty  of  praying  in  the  family.  The  form 
in  which  Alexander's  scruple  was  indicated,  however, 
suggests  rather  the  influence  of  Walker. 

The  admiration  he  felt  for  this  impossible  character 
was  never  abated.  In  his  last  years  he  condemned 
himself  because  he  had  not  kept  closer  to  Walker's 
rigid  and  exclusive  principles  (vol.  i.  p.  454).  As  a 
specimen  of  that  gentleman's  extraordinary  proceed- 
ings, it  may  not  be  amiss  to  mention  a  visit  he  made 
to  Edinburgh,  perhaps  to  confer  with  the  Haldanes, 
who  went  very  far  in  the  direction  of  restoring  "  the 


MB.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION.  83 


ancient  order."  The  usual  Sandemanian  custom  pre- 
scribes the  Lord's  Supper  on  every  Lord's  Day.  But 
Walker  could  find  nobody  in  all  the  city  who  was 
good  enough  to  enjoy  this  rite  of  religious  commun- 
ion, except  the  travelling  companion  who  had  made 
the  journey  with  him,  and  a  single  student  of  medi- 
cine in  the  university.  These  three  ate  the  elements 
alone.  (Facts  and  Documents,  p.  247.)  Professor 
Richardson  also  records  the  fact  that  Walker's  spirit- 
ual arrogance  was  cultivated  to  such  an  extreme 
"  that  it  was  a  special  point  with  him,  strictly  to  pro- 
hibit the  performance  of  any  religious  act  without 
removing  to  a  distance  (if  in  the  same  room)  from 
every  person  who  refused  to  obey  a  precept  that 
could  be  generally  applied ;  insisting  that  true  wor- 
ship could  be  rendered  only  by  those  who  receive 
and  obey  the  same  truths  in  common  "  (vol.  i.  p.  61). 

The  arrogance  of  the  Scottish  Sandemanians  did 
not  always  carry  them  quite  so  far,  but  it  was  not 
unusual  for  principles  of  this  kind  to  be  applied  in 
the  public  worship  of  their  churches  on  the  Lord's 
Day.  A  Sandemanian  Church  of  the  immersion  ob- 
servance had  been  established  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1810,  under  Elders 
Henry  Erritt  and  William  Ovington,  which  was  quite 
as  fantastic  an  institution  as  one  could  reasonably 
desire.  In  the  customary  style  of  the  party,  they 
rejected  all  human  creeds,  rules,  covenants,  thinking 
the  Scriptures  perfect  enough  for  direction  in  every 
thing.    Church  edifices  were  no  part  of  the  "  ancient 


84 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


order  of  things,"  neither  were  pulpits :  they  hired  a 
hall,  and  claimed  that  it  was  not  possible  elsewhere 
to  witness  the  sight  of  a  church  assembled  together. 
(Benedict,  History  of  the  Baptists.  Boston  1813. 
vol.  ii.  p.  409).  This  body  held  four  public  services 
in  the  week,  at  neither  of  which  were  any  but  com- 
municants admitted  ;  at  another  public  service  ap- 
pointed for  Tuesday  evening,  they  were  willing  to  see 
the  outside  world,  and  to  preach  the  gospel  to  them. 
(Benedict,  as  above.)  In  the  year  1818,  they  had  so 
far  mended  their  manners  as  to  permit  the  "  world  " 
to  attend  on  Sunday  evenings,  after  the  regular  wor- 
ship of  the  Church  had  been  concluded,  at  which  time 
the  elders,  and  some  others  of  the  brethren  approved 
by  the  Church,  would  be  gracious  enough  to  declare 
the  gospel  to  them.    (Christian  Baptist,  p.  389.) 

By  some  means  Alexander  had  become  aware  of 
these  ridiculous  proceedings  of  the  immersed  Sande- 
manians,  and  was  immediately  captivated.  He  re- 
solved to  copy  them  in  that  as  well  as  in  so  many 
other  singularities;  and  when,  after  his  immersion, 
the  Brush  Run  Church  was  re-organized  on  the  basis 
of  the  "Scotch  Baptists,"  no  person  "was  recognized 
as  duly  prepared  to  partake  in  religious  services, 
except  those  who  had  professed  to  put  on  Christ  in 
baptism."    (Richardson,  vol.  i.  p.  454.) 

The  absurd  tenor  of  his  sentiments,  and  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  conversion  to  these  idle  puerilities,  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  when  he  attended 
the  session  of  the  Redstone  Association,  in  August 


MR.  CAMPBELL' S  PERVERSION.  85 


1812,  he  could  not  be  induced  to  preach  before  the  ^ 
outside  public,  as  other  ministers  were  in  the  custom 
of  doing.  Every  solicitation  of  that  kind  was  de- 
clined. On  the  contrary,  he  was  willing  to  discourse 
"one  evening  in  a  private  family  to  some  dozen 
preachers  and  twice  as  many  laymen  "  (vol.  i.  p. 
440).  This  conduct  would  be  inexplicable  on  any 
other  supposition,  except  that  Alexander's  motto 
seems  now  to  have  suffered  an  alteration,  by  means 
of  which  it  should  read,  "  Where  the  Scotch  Baptists  w 
speak,  we  speak ; "  and  not  many  of  these  could  be 
found  who  went  to  more  wretched  extremes. 

Thomas  Campbell,  as  usual,  was  the  obedient  echo 
of  his  son  in  the  suggestions  made  by  the  latter  in 
favor  of  this  arrogant  policy  of  exclusion  (vol.  i. 
pp.  449-454).  If  the  father  and  son  had  but  fol- 
lowed that  policy  continuously  and  consistently,  it  is 
not  in  the  least  probable  that  our  country  would  have 
been  burdened  with  the  shame  and  evils  of  Mormon- 
ism,  —  which  grew  out  of  the  Disciples'  movement, 
—  since  their  influence  would  have  been  so  much 
circumscribed  that  their  enterprise  could  have  affected 
few  persons  besides  themselves  and  their  immediate 
dependents. 

A  portion  of  the  winter  of  1811-12  was  also  devoted 
to  the  task  of  acquiring  the  doctrine  and  the  dialect 
of  the  Sandemanians  in  relation  to  faith.  In  a  letter 
directed  to  Mr.  Robert  B.  Semple  in  April  1826, 
Alexander  informs  him  that  he  had  "  appropriated  one 
winter  season  for  examining  this  subject."  (Chris- 


80 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


tian  Bap.,  p.  228.)  The  facts,  however,  as  they  are 
set  down  by  his  biographer,  show  that  this  was  not 
an  entirely  correct  reminiscence ;  for,  in  addition  to 
his  investigations  regarding  the  nature  of  faith,  it  is 
clear,  from  what  has  been  said  above,  that  he  also 
found  time  to  investigate  and  accept  the  Sandemanian 
doctrine  concerning  the  plurality  of  elders  ;  to  change 
his  mind  about  the  action  of  baptism  and  about  the 
propriety  of  infant-baptism ;  to  adopt  the  notions  of 
the  Sandemanians  of  the  straitest  sect  in  favor  of  ex- 
cluding from  the  worship  of  the  Church  all  persons 
who  were  not  members  of  the  Church ;  and  to  discuss 
the  absurd  proposition  to  discontinue  family  prayer 
in  cases  where  all  the  members  of  the  household  might 
not  be  fortunate  enough  to  relish  the  fantastic  con- 
ceits of  the  party  to  which  he  was  now  inclined.  He 
had  long  previously  made  the  discovery  upon  which 
the  average  Sandemanian  was  likely  to  value  himself, 
to  the  effect  that  Sunday  is  not  the  Jewish  Sabbath 
day  (vol.  i.  p.  347) ;  but  it  was  only  during  the  win- 
ter in  question,  that  the  sentiments  of  himself  and 
the  community  which  he  led  became  so  much  the 
topic  of  public  remark  as  to  excite  the  report  that 
they  "  paid  no  respect  to  the  Sabbath "  (vol.  i.  pp. 
432-435). 

Returning  to  the  subject  of  faith,  Alexander  de- 
scribes as  follows  the  method  in  which  he  pursued 
his  investigation :  44 1  assembled  all  the  leading  writ- 
ers of  that  day  on  these  subjects.  I  laid  before  me 
Robert  Sandeman,  Hervey,  Marshall,  Bellamy,  Glas, 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION.  87 


Cudworth,  and  others  of  minor  fame  in  this  contro- 
versy. I  not  only  read,  but  studied,  and  wrote  off 
in  miniature,  their  respective  views.  I  had  Paul  and 
Peter,  James  and  John,  on  the  same  table.  I  took 
nothing  upon  trust.  I  did  not  care  for  the  authority, 
reputation,  or  standing  of  one  of  the  systems,  a  grain 
of  sand.  I  never  weighed  the  consequences  of  em- 
bracing any  one  of  the  systems  as  affecting  my  stand- 
ing or  reputation  in  the  world.  Truth  (not  who  says 
so)  was  my  sole  object.  I  found  much  entertainment 
in  the  investigation ;  and  I  will  not  blush,  nor  do  I 
fear  to  say,  that,  in  this  controversy,  Sandeman  was  w 
like  a  giant  among  dwarfs.  He  was  like  Samson 
with  the  posts  of  Gaza  on  his  shoulders."  (Christian 
Bap.,  p.  228.) 

It  would  have  been  nearly  impossible  for  a  person 
of  his  present  connections  and  situation,  especially 
one  who  was  so  much  lacking  in  respect  to  independ- 
ence of  mind  and  theological  capacity  and  culture,  " 
to  have  reached  a  different  conclusion.  Here,  as  at 
so  many  other  points,  Alexander  was  the  unquestion- 
ing slave  of  his  masters. 

In  case  the  representations  made  by  Professor 
Richardson  are  complete,  the  revolution  which  took 
place  in  Alexander's  mind,  by  which  he  became  a 
subject  of  Sandeman  in  the  matter  of  faith,  began  in 
the  month  of  October  1811  (vol.  i.  p.  413),  and  was 
completed  in  the  month  of  March  1812  (vol.  i.  p. 
422).  In  connection  with  it  he  carried  forward  a 
correspondence  with  his  father,  perhaps  chiefly  for 


88 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


the  purpose  of  showing  him  deference.  The  harm- 
less old  gentleman  was  incapable  of  rendering  any 
considerable  assistance  in  his  enterprises,  but  it  was 
in  his  power  to  offer  a  deal  of  resistance  in  case  he 
were  not  duly  coddled  and  conciliated.  As  on  every 
other  occasion,  Thomas  Campbell  played  the  r61e  of 
a  convenient  echo.  It  is  surprising  to  witness  the 
readiness  with  which  he  could  repeat  at  first  blush 
such  Sandemanian  watchwords  as  "  the  bare  belief  of 
the  naked  truth,"  and  affirm,  against  the  convictions  of 
a  lifetime,  that  this  "  involuntary,  unavoidable  faith  " 
was  sufficient  to  procure  salvation  (vol.  i.  p.  419). 

In  requesting  baptism  at  the  hands  of  Matthias 
Luce,  Alexander,  in  due  subjection  to  the  authority 
of  Archibald  M'Lean  as  laid  down  in  his  work  styled 
"  The  Commission  of  Christ  Illustrated,"  says  he  had 
stipulated  "  that  it  should  be  performed  into  the  name 
of  the  Father,  etc.,  and  not  in  the  name,  as  was  then 
and  now  is  usual  among  the  regular  Baptists." 
(Memoirs  of  Thomas  Campbell,  p.  114.)  Moreover, 
it  was  not  his  object,  in  seeking  immersion,  to  unite 
with  the  Baptists  of  America.  On  the  contrary, 
he  declares,  "  I  had  no  idea  of  uniting  with  the  Bap- 
tists "  (vol.  i.  p.  439.)  Not  many  months  had 
psssed  by,  however,  before  that  purpose  entered  his 
mind ;  and  in  order  to  accomplish  it  he  was  willing, 
in  the  month  of  August  1813,  to  violate  one  of  the 
leading  Sandemanian  tenets,  and  to  contradict  the 
teachings  of  the  famous  "  Declaration  and  Address," 
by  composing  for  the  purpose  a  sort  of  confession  of 


MR.  CAMPBELL'S  PERVERSION. 


89 


his  faith,  which,  if  it  could  now  be  procured,  would 
possibly  supply  an  amount  of  interesting  reading 
(vol.  i.  p.  4-10). 

But  he  was  never  at  that  or  any  other  moment, 
either  by  sympathy  or  by  conviction,  a  Baptist.  In  a 
private  letter  under  date  of  Dec.  28,  1815,  more  than 
two  years  after  his  Church  had  been  received  into  the 
fraternity  of  the  Redstone  Baptist  Association,  he 
describes  his  situation  in  the  following  terms :  "  I  am 
now  an  Independent "  (or  Sandemanian)  "  in  Church 
government;  ...  of  that  faith  and  view  of  the 
gospel  exhibited  in  John  Walker's  seven  letters  to 
Alexander  Knox ;  and  a  Baptist  in  so  far  as  respects  /• 
baptism  "  (vol.  i.  p.  466). 

During  the  period  between  the  year  1812  and 
1820,  Alexander  relapsed  into  a  condition  of  mere 
vegetation.  In  the  year  1816,  he  was  able  to  excite  a 
small  controversy  by  a  discourse  on  "  the  law  "  before 
the  Redstone  Association,  where,  in  keeping  with  his 
Sandemanian  principles,  he  thought  the  preaching 
of  the  gospel  was  sufficient  to  produce  the  "bare 
belief  of  the  bare  truth,"  and  therefore  maintained 
that  it  was  unnecessary  and  reprehensible  to  per- 
suade men  by  the  terrors  of  the  Lord.  He  also  be- 
came to  a  degree  interested  in  the  missionary  cause 
(Christian  Baptist,  p.  17  and  p.  72),  which  the  Red- 
stone Association  was  then  prosecuting  with  some 
kind  of  vigor.  (Benedict,  History  of  the  Baptists, 
New  York  1856,  p.  615.) 

The  year  1820,  however,  was  full  of  events  that 


90 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


supplied  him  fresh  incitement,  and  opened  for  him  a 
career.  The  month  of  April  brought  him  a  news- 
paper discussion  on  the  question  regarding  the  Sab- 
bath (vol.  i.  p.  522),  in  which  he  embraced  an 
opportunity  of  setting  forth  and  maintaining  the 
customary  Sandemanian  distinctions  with  much 
length  and  logomachy.  The  month  of  June  brought 
him  an  oral  discussion  about  the  action  and  subjects 
of  baptism,  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walker  of  the  Seceder 
Church.  These  occurrences  served  to  arouse  him 
from  his  long-continued  lethargy,  as  well  as  to  call 
the  attention  of  circles  to  his  abilities  as  a  rhetori- 
cian, which  had  not  previously  been  aware  of  his 
existence. 


BAPTISM  FOR  REMISSION  OF  SINS.  91 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BAPTISM  FOR  THE  REMISSION  OF  SINS. 

The  most  important  impulse  that  the  year  1820 
had  in  store  for  Mr.  Campbell  was  conveyed  to  him 
in  a  doctrinal  pamphlet  that  was  published  and  sent 
forth  by  the  "  Scotch  Baptist "  Church  of  New- York 
City.  This  body  was,  perhaps,  pleased  to  regard 
itself  as,  in  a  certain  sort,  the  leader  of  sentiment 
among  the  churches  of  that  persuasion  in  this  coun- 
try. The  pamphlet  referred  to  was  largely  devoted 
to  a  treatment  of  the  design  of  baptism.  It  was  for- 
warded, we  may  suppose,  to  all  the  Sandemanian 
churches  of  the  immersion  observance  in  America, 
if  not  also  to  those  in  the  British  Islands  as  well. 
One  of  these  existed  at  the  moment  in  Pittsburg, 
under  the  pastoral  supervision  of  Mr.  Walter  Scott, 
one  of  the  principal  co-laborers  of  the  Campbells. 
A  copy  was  conveyed  to  him.  The  work  also  fell 
into  the  hands  of  Alexander  and  his  father.  (Life  of 
Elder  Walter  Scott,  by  William  Baxter,  Cincinnati 
1874,  p.  47.)  They  all  perused  it  with  more  or  less 
of  avidity ;  it  was  the  subject  of  a  number  of  eager 
conferences  between  the  trio.  (Richardson,  vol.  ii.  p. 
83.)   Alexander  had  it  on  his  mind  at  the  debate  with 


92 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


Mr.  Walker,  and  ventured  to  employ  the  position 
which  it  maintained  in  one  of  his  addresses  against 
the  practice  of  infant-baptism,  asserting  that  "baptism 
is  connected  with  the  promise  of  the  remission  of  sin 
and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit "  (vol.  ii.  p.  20). 

Here  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  departure.  The 
document  of  the  New-York  Church  contains  the  same 
view  regarding  the  design  of  baptism  to  which  the 
Campbells  later  gave  in  their  adhesion  (Life  of  Scott, 
by  Baxter,  pp.  47-53);  it  was  also  published  by 
Scott  in  one  of  the  numbers  of  "  The  Evangelist,"  a 
monthly  periodical  winch  he  edited  respectively  in 
Cincinnati  and  Cambridge,  O.  The  same  texts  which 
the  sect  of  Disciples  (or  Campbellites)  are  in  the 
habit  of  setting  forward  are  produced  in  this  pam- 
phlet, and  handled  much  in  the  same  way,  in  order 
to  support  the  conclusion  that  baptism  was  designed 
for  the  remission  of  sins. 

But  Alexander  was  disposed  to  approach  this  busi- 
ness in  a  gingerly  fashion.  It  was  manifest  that  the 
sentiments  advanced  by  the  men  of  New  York  were 
nothing  else  than  a  development  of  the  views  ex- 
pressed by  Archibald  M'Lean,  the  father  of  the 
"  Scotch  Baptists,"  in  his  famous  work  entitled 
"The  Commission  of  Christ,"  winch  had  been  for 
many  years  in  the  hands  of  the  Campbells.  (See 
M*Lean's  Commission,  edit.  1,  p.  133.)  At  that 
place  this  author  declares,  M  To  be  baptized  for  the 
remission,  or  icashing-away,  of  sins,  plainly  imports, 
that  in  baptism  the  remission  of  sins  is  represented 


BAPTISM  FOR  REMISSION  OF  SIXS.  93 


as  really  conferred  upon  the  believer.  The  gospel 
promises  in  general,  4  That,  through  Christ's  name, 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  receive  remission 
of  sins.'  Baptism  applies  this  promise,  and  repre- 
sents its  actual  accomplishment  to  an  individual  be- 
liever, assuring  him  that  all  his  past  sins  are  now 
as  really  washed  away  in  baptism  by  the  blood  of 
Christ,  as  his  body  is  washed  in  water."  He  also 
says  (pp.  131,  132,  note),  "  As  to  the  necessity  of 
baptism  to  salvation,  it  is  no  stronger  expressed  in 
these  passages  "  (John  iii.  5,  and  Tit.  iii.  5),  "  than 
in  some  others  concerning  which  there  is  no  dispute, 
such  as,  '  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be 
saved  '  (Mark  xvi.  16)  ;  4  The  like  figure  whereunto 
baptism  doth  also  now  save  us,'  etc.  (1  Pet.  iii.  21)  ; 
'Be  baptized,  and  wash  away  thy  sins'  (Acts  xxii. 
16)."  (A  Disciple  firm  of  publishers  in  Cincinnati, 
O.,  have  republished  this  work  from  the  third  Edin- 
burgh edition.  In  the  year  1871  there  had  been  five 
editions  of  the  American  reprint.) 

But  from  the  manner  in  which  M'Lean,  in  this 
work,  guards  some  of  his  utterances,  it  might  be  in 
the  power  of  an  opponent  to  affirm  that  it  was  not 
entirely  warrantable  to  represent  that  author  as  a 
thorough-paced  advocate  of  the  theory  of  baptismal 
remission.  His  New-York  followers,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  fully,  and  without  much  hesitation,  taken 
their  stand  upon  this  dogma.  Alexander,  however, 
is  considered  to  have  felt  some  misgiving  as  to 
whether  these  gentlemen  were  of  canonical  author- 


94 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


ity.  It  is  not,  perhaps,  entirely  accidental,  therefore, 
that,  in  his  published  version  of  the  debate  with  Mr. 
"Walker,  he  appears  on  both  sides  of  the  issue  touch- 
ing the  design  of  baptism.  (Compare  Richardson 
vol.  ii.  p.  20,  with  vol.  ii.  pp.  36,  37.)  Nevertheless, 
the  question  was  not  of  small  concern  to  him.  The 
topic  of  the  New-York  pamphlet  was  often  the  theme 
of  remark.  (Richardson,  vol.  ii.  p.  83.)  When  the 
"  Christian  Baptist "  was  sent  forth  in  the  year  1823, 
it  was  among  the  first  matters  that  were  put  forward 
for  treatment.  In  the  second  number  of  the  periodi- 
cal, under  date  of  Sept.  1,  1823,  an  article  that  bears 
the  marks  of  careful  preparation  is  published,  in 
which  the  writer  confidently  takes  his  stand  on  the 
side  of  the  New-Yorkers,  and  pleads  the  propriety 
of  the  sentiments  which  were  enunciated  in  their 
pamphlet  of  the  year  1820.  Thomas  Campbell,  who 
was  not  responsible,  and  whose  opinions  could  easily 
be  disclaimed  in  case  any  strong  objections  were 
heard  against  them,  was  put  forward  in  this  way  to 
feel  the  public  pulse.    (Christian  Baptist,  pp.  11-13.) 

In  the  month  of  October  1823,  Alexander  was 
engaged  in  a  public  debate  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mc- 
Calla,  a  Presbyterian  divine,  at  Washington  in  Mason 
County,  Kentucky,  in  which  the  action  and  the  sub- 
jects of  baptism  were  again  treated.  Here  he  like- 
wise found  courage  enough  to  indorse  the  New-York 
authorities  in  his  own  proper  person,  by  setting  forth 
the  position  and  the  arguments  which  they  had 
employed  in  their  publication.    (Richardson,  ii.  pp. 


BAPTISM  FOR  REMISSION  OF  SINS. 


95 


80-83.)  But  he  was  still  so  much  disposed  to  hesi- 
tate regarding  their  canonicity,  that  his  scruples  at 
a  later  date  more  than  once  took  him  over  to  the 
other  side  of  the  issue.  (Christian  Baptist,  pp.  58, 
67,  TO,  p.  6-4.) 

In  October  1824,  a  second  advance  was  made 
towards  the  principles  which  the  New-York  Sande- 
manians  had  laid  down ;  and  Thomas  Campbell  was 
in  this  instance  likewise  employed  to  perform  the 
delicate  task,  Alexander  being  still  in  a  state  of 
incertitude  regarding  the  question  whether  it  would 
be  prudent  and  popular  for  him  to  espouse  their 
cause.  The  article  which  his  father  was  now 
employed  to  write  was  of  twice  the  length  of  that 
which  he  had  previously  produced,  and  in  some 
respects  more  decided.  (Christian  Baptist,  pp.  99- 
101.)  In  December  1824,  the  father  again  engages 
to  enlighten  the  "  professing  world  "  upon  the  signifi- 
cance and  importance  of  what  the  Xew-York  theo- 
logians had  laid  so  heavily  upon  his  own  mind. 
(Christian  Baptist,  p.  115.)  Various  other  expedients 
were  devised  to  keep  the  point  before  the  public.  In 
the  month  of  May  1826,  a  writer  who  appears  under 
the  nom  de  plume  of  "  Independent  Baptist,"  who  is 
suspected  to  be  no  other  than  Alexander,  asserts  in 
round  terms  4i  that  the  baptismal  water  washes  away 
sin,  and  is  the  only  Divinely  appointed  pledge  that 
the  blood  of  Christ  has  cleansed  the  conscience  of 
the  obedient  disciple."  (Christ.  Bap.,  p.  236.)  That 
his  mind  was  strongly  engaged  in  that  direction,  may 


96 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


also  be  perceived  from  occasional  references  to  the 
topic  which  are  elsewhere  scattered  up  and  down  in 
the  pages  of  his  periodical.  Among  these,  attention 
may  be  directed  to  the  more  or  less  covert  allusions 
on  p.  94,  p.  118,  and  p.  351,  respectively. 

In  October  1827,  he  contrives  to  throw  off  a  por- 
tion of  his  constitutional  timidity,  and  to  employ  in 
his  own  person  language  that,  with  considerable 
definiteness,  signifies  that  he  had  now  made  up  his 
mind  to  become  an  avowed  convert  to  the  New  York 
theory.  He  says  (Christian  Baptist,  p.  381),  "  Elder 
John  Secrest  told  me,  at  the  meeting  of  the  Mahon- 
ing Association,  Ohio,  on  the  27th  ult.,  that  he  had 
immersed  three  hundred  persons  within  the  last  three 
months.  I  asked  him,  4  Into  what  did  he  immerse 
them  ? '  He  replied,  he  4  immersed  them  into  the 
faith  of  Christ  for  the  remission  of  their  sins.' 
Many  of  them  were  the  descendants  of  Quakers,  and 
those  who  had  formerly  waited  for  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  Quaker  sense  of  those  words.  But 
brother  Secrest  had  succeeded  in  convincing  them 
that  the  one  baptism  was  not  that  of  Pentecost,  nor 
that  repeated  in  Ceesarea,  but  an  immersion  into  the 
faith  of  Jesus  for  the  remission  of  their  sins.  .  .  . 
Thus  while  my  friend  Common  Sense,  and  his  two 
Baptist  doctors,  are  speculating  on  what  regeneration 
is,  brother  Secrest  has  by  the  proclamation  of  repent- 
ance towards  God,  and  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  immersion  for  the  remission  of  sins,  been 
the  means  of  regenerating  three  hundred  in  three 
months,  in  the  proper  import  of  the  term." 


BAPTISM  FOR  REMISSION  OF  SINS.  97 


These  statements  have  the  appearance  of  being 
uttered  by  a  person  who  had  finally  made  up  his 
mind  to  assume  a  definite  position,  and  to  maintain 
it  against  all  who  might  come  forward  to  oppose  him. 
Moreover,  the  seed  that,  since  the  year  1820,  he  had 
been  sowing  with  so  much  care  and  covert  art,  had 
already  taken  root  in  some  quarters.  In  more  than 
one  section  of  the  country  persons  who  chanced  to 
be  under  his  influence  were  proclaiming  the  conceit 
of  the  New-York  Church.  During  the  year  1826, 
Jeremiah  Vardeman  had  been  advocating  it  in  Ken-  ^ 
tucky,  and  professed  to  entertain  a  degree  of  satisfac- 
tion in  administering  the  ceremony  of  baptism  that 
was  superior  to  any  thing  he  had  known  before 
he  was  rightly  instructed  in  the  New- York  theory. 
(Richardson,  vol.  ii.  pp.  287,  288.)  B.  F.  Hall  was 
also  on  the  same  ground,  with  the  same  message,  in 
the  same  year  of  grace  (vol.  ii.  pp.  388,  389). 
Adamson  Bentley  and  Jacob  Osborne  were  declaring 
it  to  the  people  of  Ohio  in  1827,  as  well  as  John 
Secrest  already  mentioned  above  (vol.  ii.  pp.  207, 
208).  It  was  indeed  high  time  for  Alexander,  if  he 
desired  to  remain  at  the  head  of  the  movement,  to 
declare  in  public  his  adhesion  to  the  notion  of  bap- 
tismal remission. 

But  a  number  of  trials  were  still  to  meet  him 
before  he  should  finally  gain  his  consent  to  formally 
announce  his  acceptance  of  what  seemed  long  since 
to  have  become  his  favorite  tenet.  Walter  Scott, 
who  in  other  years  had  been  his  co-laborer  in  Pitts- 


98 


TEE  DISCIPLES  OF  CEEIST. 


burg,  was  appointed,  at  its  session  in  September 
1827,  as  the  missionary  of  the  Mahoning  Association 
in  Ohio.  This  arrangement  had  been  effected  under 
the  oversight  and  largely  through  the  influence  of 
Alexander,  and  he  hoped  that  many  advantages 
might  accrue  from  it  in  the  way  of  perverting  the 
Baptists  of  that  body  to  Sandemanian  opinions  and 
customs  (vol.  ii.  pp.  173,  174;  cf.  p.  206). 

Notwithstanding  the  circumstances  that  Elder 
Scott  had  been  often  admitted  to  conferences  that 
were  held  touching  the  New- York  notion  (vol.  ii.  p. 
83),  and  though,  as  Campbell  declares,  he  had  been 
definitely  advised  by  Scott  to  introduce  that  opinion 
into  the  debate  with  McCalla  in  October  1823,  yet 
this  person,  if  one  may  judge  from  his  writings  in  the 
"  Christian  Baptist,"  prior  to  November  1827,  had 
never  contrived  to  get  any  practical  hold  or  under- 
standing of  that  tenet.  Nay,  when  he  heard  it  pro- 
mulgated by  Jacob  Osborne  in  the  early  autumn  of 
1827,  it  is  said  to  have  struck  him  with  surprise 
(vol.  ii.  p.  208).  Not  long  afterwards,  however,  he 
was,  by  some  agency  of  which  no  distinct  account 
has  been  given,  made  sensible  of  the  meaning  and 
importance  of  the  new  departure  which  Alexander 
had  been  pushing  ever  since  the  reception  of  the  cir- 
cular about  baptismal  remission,  in  the  year  1820 ; 
and  he  took  hold  of  the  idea  with  his  customary  en- 
thusiasm and  precipitation.  The  first  discourse  that 
he  delivered  in  favor  of  it  was  not  rewarded  by 
any  visible  results  (vol.  ii.  p.  209).    It  served  the 


BAPTISM  FOR  BEMISSIOX  OF  SINS.  99 


purpose,  however,  of  rendering  him  broad  awake  to 
the  excellency  of  an  opinion  which  a  number  of  his 
brethren  in  the  vicinity  where  he  was  laboring  had 
been  some  length  of  time  proclaiming.  The  only 
apparent  obstacle  in  the  way  of  his  action  in  thus 
going  forward  lay  in  the  fact  that  he  was  occupying 
an  official  relation  to  the  Mahoning  Baptist  Associa- 
tion, and  it  was  wholly  uncertain  how  that  body 
would  be  disposed  to  regard  this  flagrant  departure 
from  the  principles  of  the  Baptist  community. 
Alexander  was  justly  uneasy  regarding  the  issue, 
especially  since,  in  case  the  churches  which  had  em- 
ployed Scott  should  repudiate  him,  the  most  of  the 
blame  would  attach  to  himself,  who  had  perhaps 
suggested  this  expedient,  and  selected  his  long-time 
associate  and  disciple  for  the  position. 

Notwithstanding  the  manifest  perils  of  the  situa- 
tion for  his  principal,  Scott,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
new  convert,  was  resolved  to  press  forward.  On  the 
18th  of  November  1827,  he  appointed  a  meeting  at 
New  Lisbon,  O.,  in  which  he  announced  that  he  would 
fully  discuss  u  the  ancient  gospel  "  (vol.  ii.  p.  210 
and  p.  212).  Here  at  his  first  discourse  he  secured 
his  earliest  convert ;  and  this  may  be  set  down  as  in 
some  sort  the  natal  day  of  the  modern  Disciple  move- 
ment. Before  the  series  of  meetings  at  New  Lisbon 
were  concluded,  Scott  had  succeeded  in  persuading 
seventeen  persons  to  be  immersed  for  the  remission 
of  sins. 

This  conduct  on  his  part  rendered  it  necessary  that 


100 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


he  should  make  a  speedy  visit  to  the  leader  of  the 
movement  at  his  residence  in  Virginia.  (Hayden, 
History  of  the  Disciples  in  the  Western  Reserve, 
p.  93.)  The  two  friends  must  have  discussed  the  haz- 
ards to  which  the  precipitancy  of  Scott  had  exposed 
their  cause  in  Ohio,  and  the  probabilities  that  he  had 
effected  the  destruction  of  Alexander's  hope  to  per- 
vert the  entire  Association  from  the  doctrines  which 
they  had  hitherto  maintained.  The  situation  was  in- 
deed critical,  and  the  slightest  mishap  would  have 
brought  upon  them  extreme  disaster.  Scott's  energies 
were  therefore  excited  to  their  fullest  tension ;  it  was 
necessary  to  accomplish  the  work  of  perversion  as 
far  as  possible  before  the  date  appointed  for  the  next 
session  of  the  Mahoning  Association,  in  order  that 
objections  which  might  be  confidently  anticipated 
should  be  silenced,  or  that  the  party  of  opponents 
might  be  defied.  In  this  enterprise  he  was  successful 
to  a  high  degree ;  and  from  the  18th  of  November 
✓  1827,  the  notion  of  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins 
was  officially  recognized  as  a  part  of  the  faith  of  the 
Disciples. 

In  January  1828,  Alexander  got  courage  enough 
to  lend  a  helping  hand  by  commencing  a  series  of 
articles  in  the  "  Christian  Baptist,"  on  the  "  ancient 
gospel,"  where  he  comes  out  boldly  on  behalf  of  the 
opinion  which  hitherto  he  was  in  doubt  whether  he 
should  publicly  and  irrevocably  avow.  By  a  very 
adroit  contrivance  he  is  skilful  enough  in  the  first  of 
these  to  represent  John  Secrest,  a  Kentucky  preacher 


BAPTISM  FOR  REMISSION  OF  SIXS.  101 


of  the  Stoneite  or  Christian  party,  as  proclaiming  this 
opinion  with  distinguished  success  on  the  Western 
Reserve.  "Elder  John  Secrest,"  he  reports,  "told 
me  on  the  23d  of  November,  in  my  own  house,  that, 
since  the  Mahoning  Association  last  met,  he  had  im- 
mersed with  his  own  hands  one  hundred  and  ninety, 
thus  lacking  only  ten  of  five  hundred  in  about  five 
months  —  for  it  is  not  more  than  five  months  since  he 
began  to  proclaim  the  gospel  and  Christian  immer- 
sion in  its  primitive  simplicity  and  import.''  (Chris- 
tian Baptist,  edit.  6,  p.  402.) 

This  second  allusion  to  the  labors  of  Secrest  would 
be,  at  that  moment,  a  desirable  diversion  in  favor  of 
Scott,  by  assuring  the  people  of  the  region  where  they 
were  both  employed  that  the  latter  was  not  alone  in 
the  innovation  that  he  was  practising.  But  at  a  later 
time,  when  Scott  manifested  a  disposition  to  claim 
the  most  of  the  credit  for  the  prosperity  and  success 
of  the  Disciples'  enterprise,  the  above  extract  was 
the  occasion  of  an  amount  of  ill  feeling.  Scott  ap- 
pears to  have  conceived  the  idea  that  Campbell  was 
jealous  of  him,  and  had  inserted  the  statement  that 
has  been  cited  with  the  purpose  to  deprive  him  of  his 
just  honors. 


102 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


CHAPTER  X. 

OTHER  ITEMS. 

The  founder  of  the  Disciples  was  highly  reticent 
regarding  the  nature  and  extent  of  his  obligations  to 
the  Sandeinanians,  whether  of  the  aspersion  or  of  the 
immersion  observance.  The  occasions  were  compara- 
tively rare  when  he  could  be  induced  to  reveal  his 
counsels  in  that  direction.  At  the  head  of  the  "  Chris- 
tian Baptist "  he  had  placed  as  a  motto  the  passage, 
"  Style  no  man  on  earth  your  father,  for  He  alone  is 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven,  and  all  ye  are  breth- 
ren ; "  and  it  was  considered  important,  that,  in  ac- 
cordance with  this  injunction,  little  should  be  reported 
concerning  the  Sandemanians,  who  were  his  own 
masters  on  earth.  It  was  likewise  an  element  of 
strength  in  that  class  of  the  community  whom  he  had 
access  to,  that  he  should  make  a  large  parade  of  his 
intellectual  independence,  and  sometimes  of  his  "  eru- 
dition "  (McCalla,  Debate  on  Baptism,  Buffalo  1824, 
p.  124),  a  quality  with  which  he  was  also  but  moder- 
ately provided. 

William  Jones,  who,  after  the  death  of  Archibald 
M'Lean,  became  the  leader  of  the  "  Scotch  Baptists," 
or  Sandemanians  of  the  immersion  observance,  em- 


OTHER  ITEMS. 


103 


braces  the  opportunity  to  disburthen  his  mind  regard- 
ing this  clear  instance  of  ingratitude,  which  was  pro-  * 
vided  by  a  letter  he  addressed  to  Mr.  Campbell  on 
the  16th  of  March  1835.  (Millennial  Harbinger, 
1835,  pp.  298-300.)  From  the  representations  there 
set  forth,  this  kind  of  "  childish  vanity  "  must  have 
been  the  common  failing  of  a  number  of  those  churches 
which,  in  Ireland  and  America,  had  descended  from 
the  "  Scotch  Baptists."  John  Walker,  the  fellow  of 
Trinity  College,  Dublin,  for  whom,  even  down  to  his 
latest  days,  Mr.  Campbell  felt  an  extravagant  admi- 
ration, is  sorely  chastised  for  his  crimes  of  omission 
at  this  point.  Mr.  Jones  professes  to  be  able  to  prove 
that  Walker  owed  his  earliest  impulse  in  favor  of 
Sandemanianism  to  the  writings  of  Archibald  M'Lean, 
and  pities  "  those  individuals  who,  through  the  pride 
and  envy  of  their  hearts,  have  scorned  to  acknowl-  ✓ 
edge  their  obligations  to  the  servants  of  God  whose 
labors  have  been  so  useful  to  them."  (Mill.  Harb., 
as  above,  p.  299.) 

In  America  he  is  particularly  severe  upon  the  con- 
duct of  the  New-York  Church,  for  their  neglect  to 
feel  any  gratitude  towards  those  Churches  in  the 
Fatherland  to  whom  they  owed  much  thanks.  Speak- 
ing of  the  circular  which  had  been  sent  forth  by 
that  organization,  in  the  year  1818,  to  many  of  the 
prominent  "Scotch  Baptist"  Churches  in  England 
and  America,  regarding  the  "ancient  order  of  things," 
and  afterwards  published  under  the  title  of  "The 
First  Part  of  an  Epistolary  Correspondence  between 


104 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


the  Churches  in  America  and  Europe,"'  Mr.  Jones 
complains,  that,  u  though  it  is  well  known  that  those 
individuals  had  gone  out  from  this  country,  and 
carried  their  principles  with  them,  there  is  not  the 
smallest  reference,  in  all  their  narratives,  to  the  source 
whence  they  derived  them."  (Mill.  Harb.,  1835,  p. 
298.)  Xor  does  he  quite  spare  the  Disciples,  remind- 
ing Mr.  Campbell  that  he  would  not  deny  that  his 
own  churches  took  their  origin  from  the  "Scotch 
Baptists."    (Mill.  Harb.,  1835.  p.  300.) 

In  reply  to  these  just  complaints,  Alexander  allows 
his  personal  obligations,  but  is  content  to  express 
these  in  terms  of  such  shadowy  generality  as  in 
effect  almost  to  deny  them.  At  the  close  of  the 
letter  in  which  these  concessions  are  made,  he  adds, 
u  But  now,  Brother  Jones,  after  all  these  acknowl- 
edgments for  myself  and  my  brethren,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  there  will  be  found  views 
of  the  Christian  institution  icholly  new,  as  far  as  the 
works  of  all  the  schools  to  which  I  have  alluded  are 
concerned.  This  I  say  not  from  vanity,  nor  from 
pretensions  to  originality;  but  from  a  conviction, 
before  God,  that  it  is  due  to  all  the  citizens  of 
Christ's  kingdom,  in  Europe  and  America,  to  state 
that  the  cause  we  plead  is  at  least  something  in 
advance  of  even  the  Scotch,  or  English,  or  American 
Baptists,  as  I  have  no  doubt  will  appear  to  yourself 
from  a  careful  examination  of  the  books  forwarded 
you."    (Mill.  Harb.,  1835,  pp.  306,  307.) 

It  must  be  conceded  that  he  has  embraced  some 


OTHER  ITEMS. 


105 


items  in  his  creed  which  may  not  be  found  in  the 
works  of  his  masters,  the  "  Scotch  Baptists."  These 
were  immediately  insisted  upon  by  Mr.  Jones  with 
so  much  emphasis  as  to  defeat  the  hopes  which  at 
one  time  Alexander  would  seem  to  have  entertained 
to  the  effect  that  it  might  be  in  his  power  to  swallow 
up  the  "Scotch  Baptists,"  and  celebrate  another 
triumph  of  that  Christian  union  which  he  professed 
to  believe  would  in  the  end  destroy  all  "sects  and 
sectism  "  by  comprehending  every  one  of  the  various  v 
Churches  of  the  Christian  world  in  his  own  Church. 
This  would  have  been  a  splendid  ambition  if  it  had 
not  been  supremely  ridiculous. 

The  most  important  particular  in  which  he  de- 
parted from  the  theology  of  the  "Scotch  Baptist" 
writers  consists  in  the  fact  that  he  surrendered  the 
Calvinism  in  which  he  had  been  educated,  in  favor  v 
of  Arminian  sentiments.  In  the  present  state  of 
research,  it  is  not  possible  to  suggest  the  precise  time 
and  circumstances  in  which  Alexander  accomplished 
this  change.  His  biographer  is  entirely  at  fault  here, 
and  leaves  the  reader  wholly  without  information. 
Indeed,  both  himself  and  his  hero  appear  to  have 
been  fresh  enough  to  believe  that  they  were  not 
really  Arminians  as  long  as  they  omitted  to  desig- 
nate themselves  by  that  title,  no  matter  how  firmly 
and  consistently  they  might  profess  and  support 
Arminian  principles.  This  policy,  which  after  the 
fashion  of  the  ostrich  leads  them  to  imagine  that 
they  are  sufficiently  concealed  by  covering  their  head 


106 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


in  the  sand,  is  one  of  the  most  amusing  foibles  of  the 
Disciples. 

However,  it  would  appear  that  as  late  as  the  year 
1811,  Alexander  had  not  yet  turned  away  from  his 
Calvinistic  convictions;  since  in  his  notes  on  the 
writings  of  John  Walker,  made  at  that  season,  he  has 
set  down,  apparently  with  approval,  the  substance 
of  one  of  his  author's  chapters  against  Arminianism. 
(Richardson,  vol.  i.  p.  446.)  He  was  likely  still  in 
favor  of  Calvinistic  views  as  late  as  the  28th  of 
December  1815,  on  which  date  he  informed  his  uncle 
Archibald,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  him  in  Ireland, 
that  he  was  "  of  that  faith  and  view  of  the  gospel 
exhibited  in  John  Walker's  seven  letters  to  Alex- 
ander Knox  "  (vol.  i.  p.  466). 

There  have  been  few  more  absurd  hyper-Calvinists 
than  was  John  Walker,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to 
embrace  his  "  faith  and  view  of  the  gospel "  without 
in  some  degree  partaking  of  that  sentiment.  But  in 
the  absence  of  more  definite  information  regarding 
the  portion  of  Mr.  Campbell's  life  that  lies  between 
1811  and  1820,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  speculate  about 
the  date  and  circumstances  of  his  perversion  to 
Arminian  opinions.  We  must  content  ourselves  with 
the  simple  fact  that  when  he  began  to  set  forth  a 
printed  record  of  his  position,  in  the  "  Christian  Bap- 
tist," he  was  already  a  confirmed  opponent  of  the 
system  of  the  Calvinists.  Thomas  Campbell  was 
permitted  to  retain  his  Calvinism,  but  only  as  a  sort 
of  philosophy,  or  other  attenuated  appendage.  In 


OTHER  ITEMS. 


107 


this  sublimated  capacity  it  would  do  no  great  amount 
of  harm,  while  it  might  serve  to  remind  them  of  the 
source  whence  they  had  sprung,  and  upon  occasion  to 
furnish  a  bond  of  sympathy  with  the  "  Scotch  Bap- 
tists," in  case  it  were  deemed  prudent  at  any  time 
to  attempt  the  project  of  effecting  a  union  with  them. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  Mr.  Campbell's  adhesion 
to  Arminian  views  suited  much  better  with  his  theory 
of  baptismal  remission,  than  the  Calvinism  in  which 
he  had  been  reared  and  trained.  To  discard  the  sys- 
tem of  Calvin  for  the  behoof  of  the  New- York  theory, 
and  to  embrace  Arminianism  in  its  stead,  would  at 
least  indicate  that  he  had  an  eye  for  symmetry. 

A  very  considerable  result  of  this  abandonment  of 
Calvinism  appears  in  the  fact  that  Mr.  Campbell  was 
thereby  enabled  to  deny  the  doctrine  which  he  had 
preached  in  his  early  time,  that  spiritual  influences 
of  some  sort  must  co-operate  with  the  word  before 
the  sinner  will  exercise  faith.  According  to  the 
scheme  of  the  "  ancient  gospel "  which  Walter  Scott 
elaborated,  the  operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit  must 
be  confined  entirely  to  those  who  are  already  in  a 
saved  estate.  His  much-boasted  ordo  salutis  was :  (1)  j 
Faith,  (2)  Repentance,  (3)  Immersion,  (4)  Remission 
of  sins,  and  (5)  The  Holy  Spirit.  To  the  Third  Per- 
son of  the  Trinity  was  conceded  unchecked  access  to 
the  hearts  of  believers ;  but  it  was  not  allowed  him  to 
influence  the  hearts  of  unbelievers,  and  it  was  some- 
times even  attempted  to  show  that  the  act  of  faith 
was  such  an  easy  matter  that  there  was  no  need  of 


108 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


his  assistance  in  order  that  it  might  be  effected. 
Nevertheless,  the  leaders  of  the  movement  had  a  deal 
of  trouble  to  explain  the  circumstance,  that,  since 
faith  is  wholly  the  result  of  testimony,  some  of  those 
who  attended  their  own  ministry  should  accept  the 
testimony  they  were  in  the  custom  of  imparting, 
while  others  of  equal  or  superior  capacity  for  sifting 
and  weighing  testimony  would  turn  unaffected  away 
from  it.  (Richardson,  vol.  i.  p.  427,  and  vol.  ii.  pp. 
150-163.)  ' 

This  same  arbitrary  method  of  dictating  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  what  might  be  the  sphere  and  limits  of  his  oper- 
ations may  be  found  in  the  writings  that  the  Congre- 
<  gational  minister,  Mr.  W.  Cudworth,  sent  forth  in  his 
controversy  against  Robert  Sandeman,  which  have 
already  been  mentioned  on  a  previous  page.  (Wil- 
liam Jones  of  England,  in  the  Mill.  Harbinger,  1835, 
p.  443.)  Cudworth  also  advanced,  in  the  same  works, 
the  singular  hypothesis  that  the  word  of  Scripture  is 
the  Spirit ;  a  fancy  that  was  approved  and  elaborated 
in  the  well-known  Dialogue  between  Timothy  and 
Austin,  which  Mr.  Campbell  sent  forth  in  the  pages 
of  the  "  Harbinger."  (Jones  in  Mill.  Harbinger,  as 
above.) 

In  the  winter  of  1811-12,  which  Mr.  Campbell 
appropriated  to  the  examination  of  these  issues,  the 
work  of  Cudworth  was  one  of  the  books  that  he 
studied.  Writing  to  his  father  on  the  28th  of  March, 
1812,  Alexander  says,  "I  have  read  about  one-half  of 
Cudworth  this  week.    Will  give  you  my  sentiments 


OTHER  ITEMS. 


109 


respecting  his  performance  in  my  next."  (Richardson, 
vol.  i.  p.  425.)  Unhappily  Professor  Richardson  has 
failed  to  insert  the  letter  in  which  his  cogitations 
about  the  production  of  Cudworth  are  recorded. 
If  that  were  supplied,  it  is  possible  that  a  degree  of 
assistance  might  accrue  to  the  labors  of  students  in 
this  department.  As  the  writings  of  Cudworth  can- 
not be  consulted  at  the  present  moment,  it  is  not 
possible  to  form  a  conclusion  with  any  degree  of 
detail  as  to  how  far  the  positions  assumed  by  Mr. 
Campbell  may  correspond  to  the  opinions  which  that 
singular  author  has  enunciated.  It  is  just  to  state, 
however,  that  Mr.  Campbell  assures  his  English  critic 
that  he  reprobates  the  notion  of  Cudworth.  (Mill. 
Harb.,  1835,  p.  463.)  It  is  equally  just  to  add  that 
this  same  notion  is  distinctly  advocated  in  the  Dia- 
logue between  Timothy  and  Austin. 

Mr.  Jones  likewise  informs  us  that  those  persons 
in  England  who  took  up  with  the  opinion  of  Cud- 
worth "  have,  in  process  of  time,  verged  into  Socini- 
anism  or  Deism,  among  whom  were  some  of  the 
elders  of  our  (Scotch  Baptist)  Churches."  Accord- 
ing to  this  account,  therefore,  the  immersed  Sande- 
manians  of  the  mother  country  were  affected  by  these 
extraordinary  conceits  touching  the  Holy  Spirit,  as 
well  as  their  brethren  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Camp- 
bell in  America.  And  it  is,  further,  no  secret  at  all 
that  Mr.  Campbell  and  a  portion  of  his  adherents 
were  much  suspected  of  a  leaning  towards  the  tenets 
of  Socinianism  or  Arianism.     This  suspicion  was 


110 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHBIST. 


aroused  at  an  early  period,  —  even  before  the  Disci- 
ples had  entered  upon  any  official  church  relations 
j  with  the  Unitarian  followers  of  Barton  W.  Stone  in 
Kentucky,  —  as  may  be  seen  in  the  pages  of  the 
"  Christian  Baptist,"  pp.  50  and  216.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  was  at  great  pains  to  clear  himself  and 
his  people  of  imputations  of  this  nature  that  were 
laid  against  them.  After  the  comprehension  of  the 
Stoneite  party  in  Kentucky,  these  suspicions  became 
more  numerous  than  ever ;  and  it  was  a  tedious  task 
to  meet  the  objections  that  were  excited  by  that 
action. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  ransack  the  literature  of 
the  Sandemanians  of  Europe  for  traces  of  the  dis- 
tinction that  was  so  much  approved  and  employed 
by  Mr.  Campbell,  between  faith  and  opinion,  and  is 
the  chief  prop  of  the  Plea  for  Christian  Union.  Noth- 
ing could  be  more  easy  than  to  fall  upon  this  expe- 
dient without  the  aid  of  a  special  counsellor.  The 
appearance  of  arrogance  which  induces  him  to  assert 
that  the  confessions  of  faith,  set  forth  by  various 
Christian  churches,  are  merely  confessions  of  opin- 
ion (Christian  Baptist,  p.  216),  is  not  an  unusual 
display  in  the  ranks  of  the  smaller  sects.  In  general, 
the  opinion  of  Mr.  Campbell,  touching  the  meaning 
of  a  given  passage  of  Scripture,  was  too  likely  to  be 
regarded  as  a  point  of  faith,  while  the  equally  careful 
and  honest  conclusions  of  others  who,  to  say  the 
least,  were  not  less  competent  than  himself,  were 
somewhat  haughtily  denounced  as  unworthy  of  that 


OTHER  ITEMS. 


Ill 


high  distinction.  In  the  debate  that  occurred  be- 
tween himself  and  the  Rev.  N.  L.  Rice,  at  Lexington, 
Ky.  (Nov.  15  to  Dec.  2,  1843),  he  was  sorely  pressed 
to  declare  the  point  where  faith  begins  and  opinion 
ends  (Debate,  p.  813),  but  was  not  able  to  bring 
forward  any  satisfactory  reply.  (Debate,  pp.  835, 
836.) 

Nevertheless,  the  distinction  proved  to  be  practi- 
cally serviceable  in  enabling  his  people  to  compre- 
hend within  their  communion  a  number  of  persons 
believing  in  Unitarian  and  Universalist  tenets,  who 
were  willing  to  promise  that  they  would  hold  this 
item  of  their  faith  as  a  mere  opinion.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  until  he  was  constrained  to  deplore 
an  unfortunate  condition  of  affairs,  and  to  complain 
that  "  all  sorts  of  doctrines,  by  almost  all  sorts  of 
men,"  were  proclaimed  among  his  adherents. 

The  different  sects  and  systems  which  we  have 
been  considering  are  extreme,  and  in  several  re- 
spects fantastic,  developments  of  the  principles  of 
Protestantism,  and  especially  of  that  principle  which 
asserts  the  necessity  of  returning  to  the  Bible  as  the 
standard  of  faith  and  action.  The  literalism  which 
is  an  abuse  of  Protestantism  was  pretty  well  dis- 
played in  each  of  them,  and  in  several  instances  it 
became  absurd  and  injurious. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  believed  that  the  statement 
with  which  the  present  treatise  was  begun  has  been 
shown  to  be  true.    The  Disciples  of  Christ  are  the] 
direct  descendants  of  the  Sandemanians ;  it  is  possible 


112 


THE  DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST. 


to  point  out  in  the  literature  of  Sandemanianism 
the  source  whence  Mr.  Campbell  derived  almost  every 
one  of  his  religious  opinions.  If  he  ever  had  an  ori- 
ginal idea,  he  took  pains  to  avoid  giving  expression 
to  it  in  such  of  his  writings  as  have  been  submitted 
to  the  inspection  of  the  public. 


Date  Due 


